


Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

by syphoner



Series: Changing the World [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Interspecies Relationship(s), Original Character(s), Predator Rights, Predator/Prey, Protests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7116103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syphoner/pseuds/syphoner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Judy return from Bunnyburrow only to find that things have changed in the city. With the institution of shock collars, tensions between predators and prey have reached an all-time high. The ZPD are still scrambling to recover from the effects of the rumbling, primarily because of the lives that were lost. And there's still the hitmammals that are gunning for both of them.</p><p>Now hot on the heels of a conspiracy that falls back to their first case together, the best friends, ZPD partners and lovers have to navigate this new city life and find a way to come out on top in a world that exists way above their heads - and that can drag them deeper underground than either of them have ever been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **For many locations/city layout in Zootopia, I am using information provided on the wiki, concept art (1) and this map (2) drawn by Matthias Lechner, Art Director of Environments for Zootopia:  
> (1) http://www.matthiaslechner.com/zootopia.html  
> (2) http://www.matthiaslechner.com/uploads/8/2/4/8/8248893/382037_orig.jpg

Judy fidgeted nervously on the chair in front of Chief Bogo’s desk, waiting for him to finish reviewing their forms. Medical release, psychological evaluation, return to active duty. For both of them.

 

They’d made it back to Zootopia in plenty of time. They’d gotten in around 5:30 in the evening, after packing and double-checking that they had everything and then _triple_ checking at her mother’s insistence, and then her fussing and Judy’s father fussing and saying goodbye to everyone and Nick trying to avoid talking to Judy’s grandfather who always muttered about devil-possessed foxes anytime Nick was around and—

 

Nick’s tail flicked up and swatted her lightly on the paw. It broke her out of her memory, and she gave him a grateful smile, which he returned with a wink. Then both of them turned back to Bogo as they caught the motion of him flipping a page.

 

In truth, as much as Judy had loved spending time with her family, she was absolutely ready to get back to the big city and away from all those bunnies. Sure, she loved them, but they were more often than not a thorn in her side. Plus, she loved the diversity of having so many different species surrounding her. Heck, she even missed having the noise of her neighbor’s angry arguing or even angrier-sounding sex as she was trying to fall asleep at night.

 

Bogo slipped the papers into a folder and set it to the side, before removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes with the fingers of one hoof. He sighed.

 

“Four hundred and thirty-seven mammals knew that you were in Bunnyburrow over the course of the past month and a half, not including the family of Officer Hopps.” He looked back up at them, and Judy noticed for the first time exactly how tired he looked. _Something_ was keeping him up at night, and a part of Judy vehemently hoped that it was the new regulations concerning the shock collars.

 

She glanced over at Nick as he responded, and couldn’t help her eyes wandering down to the plastic collar that was just barely sitting above the shirt collar of his police uniform. “Is that all? Sounds like a success to me.” Nick grinned and leaned back in his chair, arms meeting behind his head. “If only 440 knew that we were there, out of a population of – what, 83 million? I’d call that a success.”

 

“The _goal_ was to have only the Hopps family know that you were there in the first place! And I’ve heard from the Bunnyburrow sheriff’s department that you two went gallivanting about on more than one occasion and caused a scene!”

 

“Kinda hard to gallivant when you’re with a bunny on crutches, chief.”

 

“Shut it, Wilde.” Bogo snorted, and his scowl deepened. “The sheriff’s office got several alarmed and angry calls regarding a fox drugging a disabled rabbit and then leaving with said rabbit. Care to explain that?”

 

“It wasn’t drugs,” Judy spoke up. “Or rather, it wasn’t Nick that did anything. We had gone for lunch because I needed to get away from my family for a little while, and I had completely forgotten that codeine didn’t always react well with alcohol, and I… um…”

 

“And _what_ , Hopps?”

 

Judy took a deep breath, then blurted, “I may have had a drink or two.” _Or four._ The chief’s eyes narrowed as he glared at her, and though she tried to stand tall and not flinch, she couldn’t help but sink down into her chair a little bit. “Look, sir, I know it wasn’t the most responsible thing to do, but I needed to take my mind off of… other stuff.”

 

It burned her up inside to be as inarticulate as she was being at that moment, but she realized that it would only look worse on her – and Nick – if she said it was because they were being judged as a predator-prey couple. Admitting to drinking because of her problems would only lead to an appointment with the ZPD addictions councilor.

 

Bogo seemed to read into her statement anyway, even though she tried to hide it. “Listen here, Hopps. I don’t care _what_ you and Wilde get up to in your spare time, as long as it doesn’t put either of you in danger and you don’t bring it to work. But if you think for one moment that I will condone your reckless endangerment of yourself and others, simply to forget whatever qualms or regrets you may have regarding your choice of partner—“

 

“It wasn’t that!” Judy pressed her ears back against her scalp, hoping that Bogo couldn’t see the flush that crept up the lobes. “It was injustice and prejudice and hate speech!”

 

“And you’re not used to this yet? _You work with a fox!_ ”

 

“Sir,” Nick said, his sly grin still in place but tone much more respectful, obviously wary of the big buffalo’s anger. “It wasn’t discrimination against me this time. It was discrimination against my perceived relationship with Officer Hopps, and she needed to take her mind off the fact that they had made her stand for almost an hour when they could very obviously see she had a broken leg _and_ a broken arm, and that she was on crutches, simply based on their perceptions of who we were as people. Last I checked, that could potentially be considered a form of cruel and unusual torture.”

 

“And how did they receive this impression of your relationship?”

 

Nick shrugged. “Judy lost her balance going over the threshold and I put my paws out to steady her.”

 

“And you didn’t notice that she was imbibing however many pints of alcohol while hopped up on codeine?”

 

“She finished them off without me even realizing it until I almost knocked one over. I like to enjoy my food when I go out to eat just as much as the next mammal… except maybe Officer Clawhauser, who sometimes takes his meals a little too seriously. Did you know he has one of the highest rated food blogs in the city?”

 

“I’m well aware,” Bogo replied, rubbing his eyes again. “My wife has taken many different recipes from that blog, not all of which are herbivore friendly.” He looked up suddenly and glared at Nick fiercely, as if blaming him for his slip of the tongue. “Neither of you know anything about that! Officer Clawhauser is already proud enough of that blog as it is. I don’t need him getting a bigger ego about it – or slipping recipes into my mailbox.”

 

“Our lips are sealed, sir,” Judy said before Nick could make a smart remark. Nick, for his part, just nodded and saluted the cape buffalo sitting across the desk.

 

He opened up their file again. “I should have you both put on parking duty for the next month,” he muttered to himself, then stamped both of their return to active duty forms and handed them back. “Unfortunately, with the deaths of several of our officers, we’re very short-staffed. The next class from the academy doesn’t graduate for another few months, so until then everyone is pulling extra weight. We can’t afford to have anyone half-way decent out there minding parking meters.”

 

“Who died?” It was a question that they’d been avoiding all summer, preferring not to know while they weren’t in the city, preferring not to let the ghosts of the dead haunt them until they could come to terms with them.

 

“Officers Stronghorn and Laghide, and Detective Cooper. I doubt you were acquainted with her.”

 

“Detective Anna Cooper?” They both turned towards Nick as he spoke. For once, he didn’t have a grin on his face. Bogo nodded, and Nick’s neutral expression took on hints of grief. “She was a good gal. It’s too bad that she’s gone.”

 

“How is it that you know absolutely _everyone_?”

 

Nick shrugged. “Anna and I went to high school together; she was on the girl’s track team. Didn’t talk to her after that except to thank her for her congratulations after I graduated and started on the beat.”

 

Bogo grunted. “Yes, well. It’s been a hard month and a half. We’ve promoted John Snarloff to detective to take up her mantle. And he is someone both of you _have_ met. Since both of you are fit to return to active service, I’m immediately putting you under his authority on his first major case as a detective. Go rendezvous with him; he’ll provide you with the details. He should be at his new desk, on the third floor.”

 

Bogo turned back to his paperwork and the two officers hopped down off the chairs situated in front of the chief’s desk and made their way to the door. Judy paused at the threshold, and turned back to the chief. “Sir,” she said tentatively, “who is it that you’ve assigned to figuring out the break-in at my apartment?”

 

“Detective Rammer,” Bogo replied without looking up. “He left the precinct this morning on a hunch to track down the perpetrator. If you need to contact him with any new evidence that you might have discovered, you’ll be able to look up his cell phone number in the police directory on your computer.”

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

The two of them made their way down to the third floor and into the maze of offices for the various top-brass of the ZPD, until they arrived at the area labeled “Detectives.” They trudged their way through, getting a lot of funny looks from the various detectives at their desks, before finally making it to the desk labeled _Snarloff._

 

The grey-furred wildcat wasn’t there, but he’d left his computer on and open, and his badge on a chain sitting beside his desk. Then a friendly snort right behind them caused them both to whirl around. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the fox who ran away with the hare! Word around the office was you two had gone and eloped!”

 

“Eloped? Sir, I will have you know I am a very respectable mammal!” Nick puffed up his chest and put on his best indignant face. Judy had to work at keeping in her giggle.

 

“No respectable mammal would be caught dead ordering a latte from Buggaburger,” Snarloff scoffed. “ _At least_ have the decency to go to Snarlbucks!”

 

“Aww, c’mon, you can’t look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve never wanted to taste their Moth Mocha Lattes!”

 

Snarloff chocked on his coffee, which he’d disappeared to pour from the pot that was sitting at the other end of the room just before they got there. “Holy Sphinx,” he coughed, glaring at Nick. “Even hearing those words almost made me puke! Don’t tell me that you were actually stupid enough to _try_ something like that!”

 

“No, but I tricked my friend Finn into trying one once. From what he said it wasn’t too bad.”

 

“I wouldn’t trust Finn’s taste buds, though,” Judy replied, trying desperately to contain her laughter. “You know what he gets his muzzle into.”

 

“And boy, do I wish I didn’t.”

 

“Anyway,” Snarloff cut in, placing his coffee down on the desk beside his badge. “You guys are here to help me out, right? On the new case?” They both nodded. “Good. I could use it; me by myself on this case just isn’t enough man-power for the ground we have to cover.”

 

“What’s the case?”

 

“Mammal trafficking. We got a tip about a week ago from a guy in customs, saying that he found a herd of unconscious lambs packed into a crate at the docks. The owners of the cargo bribed and threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet about it. Called in an anonymous tip from a payphone in Sahara Square a day later.”

 

“Sounds almost like he was in on it,” Judy said, frowning in concentration. Her ears were perked up in interest. “I mean, why wait a day to call it in? If you’re going to do it anyway, then you should call immediately! Maybe he could even save those poor animal’s lives!”

 

“A number of different reasons. Guilt after the fact, trying to protect himself or his family, maybe he had a change of heart…”

 

“Any idea what docks all this took place at?” Nick asked.

 

“He said the ones in Tundratown.”

 

“Then it could also be that he needed an excuse to get into Sahara Square to call in, instead of trying to use the easily-tapped and heavily monitored payphones near the Tundratown docks.”

 

“That could be it… but how did you know about those being monitored?”

 

“I used to know a reporter who would routinely tap into the lines to get the inside scoop on what was going on; he was arrested for spying on the police a few years ago.”

 

“You really do know almost everyone, don’t you!”

 

“Was there ever a reason to doubt me, Carrots?”

 

“Besides the fact that you have never met my neighbors on either side…?”

 

“Please, like I want to know the two wingbats that love to make angry love in the shower.”

 

“They’re a gemsbok and a kudu!”

 

“I was referring to the teacup pigs, but I guess it could describe either one.”

 

“Uh… wait, what?”

 

“My apartment has very thin walls,” Judy explained to the very confused Snarloff. “On one side, the gemsbok and the kudu are always arguing with each other, and love to give me semi-helpful life advice through the walls during the few occasions that they aren’t screaming at each other.”

 

“Which usually makes them argue with each other,” Nick added.

 

“Yeah. On the other side, the bathroom walls line up, and I can often hear a bunch of angry squeals coming from their side, usually whenever I hear their shower turn on.”

 

“That’s… um…”

 

Judy shrugged. “It’s what I get for living in the Grand Pangolin Arms. I just haven’t had time to really look into getting a different apartment. Plus it’s close enough to the precinct that I can easily walk here whenever I need to.”

 

“I don’t know how you live with that kind of thing; my neighbors kids occasionally get loud when they’re playing, or if they’re cranky, and it drives me up the wall.”

 

“You get used to it after a while. Plus, if either one is getting too loud while I’m trying to sleep, or whatever, then I just bang on the wall and tell them to keep it down.”

 

“Does that actually work?”

 

“Usually. And if it doesn’t then I just remind them that I’m a cop and can write them up on a noise complaint.”

 

“Good for you, Hopps; give it to them where it hurts! And hey, they won’t be missing you if you decide to move to somewhere better.”

 

Judy rolled her eyes. “Anyway. Back to the case?”

 

“I’ve been investigating this for about a week. I _think_ I’ve found a lead in the Meadowlands. While I’m looking into that, however, I don’t suppose you two would mind trying to track down our mystery caller? I know you two have some _great_ connections!”

 

“You mean Nick has some good connections.”

 

“I don’t know, Judy,” the wildcat said, lowering his voice. “The night of the rumbling, those polar bears that you were with… They work for the Big crime family, don’t they? And if they were guarding you, then you’ve got connections, too.” He gave her a wink.

 

“I… That’s… I don’t…” She smoothed her ears back and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just taking advantage of their confusion and obvious involvement to help my friends get to safety.”

 

“Come on, Hopps, you can tell me. I already know, after all.”

 

“Already know what, detective?”

 

“All about your _connections_ with the bossman of the group. I also know that Bogo told you to keep it hush-hush.” He tapped the side of his snout. “I _am_ a detective for a reason, you know.”

 

Judy must have blushed, because the wildcat in front of her split his smug expression with a grin to match.

 

“Good, so I’ll leave you guys to it then! All the files that we’ve got on this case are already in your digital drop boxes. I’m going to head over to the Meadowlands now. Good luck!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For many locations/city layout in Zootopia, I am using information provided on the wiki, concept art (1) and this map (2) drawn by Matthias Lechner, Art Director of Environments for Zootopia:  
> (1) http://www.matthiaslechner.com/zootopia.html  
> (2) http://www.matthiaslechner.com/uploads/8/2/4/8/8248893/382037_orig.jpg

Judy sat across from the zebra, gazing at her with all the innocence and charm she could muster. It was wasted, however, because the zebra kept glancing between the phone and Nick, who was leaning up against the back wall of the office, his aviators hiding his eyes despite the dim interior of the room. She thought he did it to look cool even though he claimed that it was so that people they were interrogating couldn’t see his eyes.

 

So, in other words, an alpha thing.

 

Judy cleared her throat as the recorded phone conversation finished, snapping the zebra’s gaze back onto her. “So, Mrs. Stripenia, do you recognize the voice as belonging to one of your workers here at the docks?”

 

“I-I find it hard to say, Officer,” she stammered, clearly ill at ease. Nick’s bad cop routine might have been working a little too well. “I don’t see everyone on a day-to-day basis – most of them I barely see at all, in fact. They just come to pick up their pay check every two weeks. We’re still not fully integrated into the direct deposit system that corporate has been pushing for.”

 

“Do any of them ever talk to you when they come in here?”

 

“Most just walk in, grunt ‘pay check,’ with their liquor-stained glares, and then walk out as soon as I hand them the piece of paper.”

 

“Most?” Nick asked from his position, and he walked over to the chair beside Judy, across the desk from Mrs. Stripenia. He removed his sunglasses and tucked them into a pocket of his shirt before sitting down. “And the few mammals who do come in here and chat?”

 

“Oh, you know…” She waved her hoof flippantly and blinked a few times at a spot over the officers’ heads.

 

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Nick replied softly, plastering his sly-grin-mask onto his face. “But I would love it if you could let me into the loop.”

 

His smile was friendly, and with his ears pinned back – and the ever-present collar around his neck – Mrs. Stripenia seemed to relax a little bit. “Most just come in to complain about their shifts, or to shoot the shit, if you’ll pardon my French. They’re all very lonely, poor souls. No family at home or anything!”

 

“And is the bear in this recording one of those poor, lonely souls?”

 

“Oh, no dear, er, officer. He’s a yak, and he’s got a wonderful family at home.”

 

“Ah, of course! A yak! I can’t believe I mixed up those two species. How silly of me. I tell ya, I’ll do that all the time. Mix things up, I mean. Like just the other day, I was brewing my morning coffee and I don’t know what I was thinking, but whatever it was _really_ had my attention, and my paw grabbed the first thing it came into contact with. Let me tell you, I have never had a coffee like that, but unless you’re one of those mammals that absolutely _craves_ that mineral, three tablespoons of salt in your coffee is no way to start the day.”

 

The zebra had to cover her mouth with both hooves to hide her laughter. After a few deep breaths, she responded with, “Well thank you for the warning, Officer. I’ll be sure to pass on your words of wisdom to anyone who comes in here looking for a coffee.” There was a glint of amusement in her eyes as she said it.

 

“Feel free. Hopefully someone will take the lesson in that story and be able to avert that disaster before it happens again. Like that yak. Does he take sugar in his coffee?”

 

“You know,” Mrs. Stripenia replied after a pause for thought, “I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen Leroy drinking a coffee. He’s normally so focused on staying hydrated that he always steers clear of anything that isn’t plain old water.”

 

“Leroy, you said his name was?” Out of the corner of his eye, Nick watched Judy scribbling notes in her yellow-papered logbook as he wormed the information out of the zebra.

 

Mrs. Stripenia seemed to finally catch on to what Nick was doing, and her face fell. “Oh. Oh, no. I shouldn’t have said that. Leroy will kill me.”

 

“Ma’am, if anything, he’ll probably be thanking you because he knows that he’ll have police protection for him and his family against whoever is doing this, and his information will be instrumental in saving the lives of those kidnapped lambs.”

 

As the look of hesitation lingered in the zebra’s eyes, Judy spoke up. “If you’re still worried, Mrs. Stripenia, then we don’t have to inform Leroy that it was you who pointed us in his direction, but we _do_ owe it to the families of those lost little lambs to find them again, and to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

 

That did it. With a faint sigh of resignation, the striped equine bowed her head and opened up to the officers sitting across from her in her office.

**

“How did you do that?” Judy demanded as they stepped back into their cruiser. “I was trying for a good twenty minutes to get her to crack, and you sit down, say a few words and she’s practically spilling her guts out!”

 

“Thanks for that mental image, Carrots,” he grimaced. “Now with that in mind, I can work all day without needing to stop for lunch!”

 

“Har har. You never lose your appetite, and we’ve discussed more gruesome details than that before and during meals together.” He let his smile slide back into place, and it was his genuine one, the one he reserved for her. Or at least, she’d never seen him use it in any of his cons.

 

“I didn’t really do anything but guide her in a direction that she already wanted to go. I could tell that she _wanted_ to talk to us, but the thought of what was happening scared her into holding back. So I eased her fears and she opened up naturally.”

 

Judy snorted. “Another ex-con’s trick?”

 

“The reading of the mammal? That’s pretty well applicable to any kind of profession, for the most part.”

 

“So what about the bear part?”

 

Nick shrugged. “I’ve only heard a few mammals that are able to get that rumble going in their chests like the voice in the recording had. Most of them don’t do work at the Tundratown docks because they can’t stand the cold. Speaking of which…” He cranked the heat and turned on the seat warmers, and Judy felt the warm air instantly start to soak into her fur. She turned her face up to catch the vent on the roof and let the vents on either side catch the fur of her throat and paws. “Much better.”

 

Judy pulled out onto the road, heading south. “So, what’s the fastest way to get to Leroy’s house?”

 

“Keep going down Iceberg Boulevard until you hit Wall Road; it should be the turn off right before the tunnel. And hey, can we pick up lunch on the way? I’m pretty sure there’s a Buggaburger a block before the turn.”

 

“Ick.” Judy pulled a face, causing her partner to chuckle.

 

“What’s the matter, Fluff, can’t handle a few wittle bugs? And here I thought you were a ‘try everything’ kind of rabbit.”

 

“I… Aren’t you the one who said that you didn’t have any appetite anymore?”

 

“Aren’t you the one who pointed out that I always have an appetite? C’mon, a quick stop, we can both get a meal, and then we’ll be set for the rest of our shift!”

 

“Well… Alright, I guess,” she conceded finally, noticing that it was already after two. Nick let out a whoop.

 

They pulled into the drive-thru lane. “I’ll take the Canid Special, please,” Nick said, handing Judy a $10 bill.

 

“What do you think I should get?”

 

“Try the Green Burrito. It’s mostly veggie – including the pita – and it’s the option with the least amount of bugs.”

 

“What kinds are in it?”

 

“Praying mantis and crickets. It’s actually not that bad, though.”

 

“Hi there, welcome to Buggaburger,” the voice box announced. “What can I get for you today?”

 

“Can I get a Canid Special and a Green Burrito without any praying mantis or crickets?”

 

“No praying mantis, no crickets?”

 

“That’s correct.”

 

“Okay. And what would you like to drink with those today?”

 

Judy looked over at Nick, but the fox just shrugged. “A cola to go along with the Canid Special.”

 

“Okay. And with the Green Burrito?”

 

“Just the sandwich. Or… burrito, I guess?” She thought she could detect a faint snicker through the voice box, but she couldn’t be sure.

 

“Is that everything for today?” Judy looked over the information one more time then gave the mammal at the other end of the line the affirmative. “Okay. Your total comes out to $16.75, at the first window, please.”

 

Judy moved the cruiser forward and up to the window. She reached for her wallet, only to pull it out and realize that she didn’t have any cash. “Oh, rotten turnips! I’m sorry Nick, I don’t have any cash. Do you think you could…” Nick was already handing her some more bills. “Thanks! I wasn’t expecting to be buying anything, because I brought a lunch today, but I left it at the station, so I didn’t take out any cash last night after we’d gotten home, and I normally don’t carry my credit card or my bank card with me when I’m on duty.”

 

“It’s fine, Carrots, don’t worry about it,” Nick replies, shrugging. His sly-fox-mask was already back in place. “Just remember to pick me up a coffee and a donut tomorrow morning, and I guess we can call it square.”

 

She punched him lightly on the shoulder and handed the bills over to the girl at the register, a grey wolf with blonde streaks in her fur that looked like she was still in high school. “Sly fox,” Judy shot over her shoulder.

 

“Careless bunny,” he replied in turn, shrugging. “Not my fault if you get caught without cash.”

 

“Okay, so you guys make, like, a cute couple and all,” the wolf interrupted. “But, like, you’re holding up the line, so could you take your… whatever this is and do it over your meal? Just so we can keep things moving along and I can get my quota for the day.”

 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

 

Judy pulled up to the next window and the attendant handed her a brown paper bag and a drink, both of which she quickly passed to Nick. Then she pulled their cruiser out of the drive-thru line and parked it in one of the available spaces.

 

Nick handed her the burrito and took out his own burger. Not knowing what to expect, she gave a little nibble, then took a much larger bite when she realized how good it was. She had the entire thing polished off in no time and was looking hungrily at Nick’s fries, which he’d put in front of the air vent to keep warm while he ate his burger.

 

“Hey Nick…”

 

“Go ahead,” he replied with his mouth full while motioning to his fries. Judy grabbed a few of them and put them all in her mouth at once. They were surprisingly crunchy, but tasted delicious.

 

“Mmm,” she mumbled through her full mouth. “These are delicious!”

 

“Why do you think I got them?”

 

Judy swallowed and grabbed another few fries. “I’d love to know how they get the potatoes this crispy; mine always either turn out slightly soggy, or burnt to a crisp!”

 

“Well, see, that’s your problem, now isn’t it? You’re using potatoes to make your fries.”

 

“Huh? What are you talking about, Nick? What else would you use to make your fries?”

 

“Well the one’s you’re munching on right now are made of fried crickets…” He howled in laughter as Judy shoved open her door and spat the chewed remains of the cricket fries onto the ground beside their cruiser. The laughter quickly turned complaints as a bone-chilling wind ripped through the parking lot and into the car.

 

Judy grabbed Nick’s drink from the cup holder and sip, swishing the cola around in her mouth for a few seconds before spitting that out on the ground as well and closing her door. “Sweet cheese and crackers! Nick! Why didn’t you warn me about them?!”

 

“Hey, you could have read what was in the Canid Special just as easily as I could! Besides, I thought you were a ‘try everything’ kind of bunny? What’s wrong with a little bugs?”

 

“You know I don’t like them!”

 

“True, but your reaction was _oh so worth it_. And you liked them after you tried them, so I’m not sure what you’re so upset about. Is it really that bad?” She wiped the smug grin off his face by punching him in the arm. Hard. “Ow! That hurt, fluff!”

 

“That’s what you get for trying to trick me like that,” she mumbled. “Now, are you ready to get this case on the road?”

 

Nick grumbled for a few moments, rubbing his arm where she’d punched him, but then put the last of his burger in his mouth. “Let’s go.”

 

Judy pulled the cruiser out of the parking lot and back onto Iceberg Boulevard, then took the turn off for Wall Road. Then, at Nick’s urging, she pulled over to the side of the road and parked the cruiser in front of a two-story grey-brick building that was bleached by the permafrost just as much as everything else was in Tundratown.

 

This time, Nick took the good cop and Judy took the bad cop as they walked up to the door. It wasn’t hard to change pace; she just harnessed her irritation with her partner and put that to use. Of course, being the bad cop, she had to stand back from the door as Nick knocked.

 

“Hello, ma’am,” he started as the door opened. “My name is—“ The yak had slammed the door in his muzzle, cutting him off. Nick’s expression sank further down into the sly-grin-mask that he used to hide everything else. Judy was starting to be able to read it, however, and she could tell that Nick was trying to stay positive. And as much as she was irritated with him for not telling her about the crickets, she was even more upset that people could be so heartless as to do that to her fox.

 

She pounded on the door, a lot harder than his gentle knocking. “ZPD! Open up!” she hollered at the frosted wood of the old building. He flicked her with his tail to catch her attention, and she glared up at him. He just tilted his head and kept the mask on, but his eyes said _stay calm, they’re not worth getting upset over._ She disagreed, but didn’t have time to respond before the door opened cautiously again and the yak woman peered back out.

 

“Something I can help you with, officers?” Her fur all over her body was very long and mostly matted together; she took Yax’s dreadlocked fashion choice, flies and all, to the extreme and smelled like she hadn’t showered in several weeks. She was, thankfully, clothed.

 

“Yes,” Nick replied before the scowling bunny could say anything. “I’m Officer Nick Wilde and this is my partner Officer Judy Hopps. We’re looking for Leroy. Is he at home?”

 

“What do you want with my husband?”

 

“We just need to ask him a few questions, ma’am.” Nick’s ears were back and he was looking casual as ever, helping to put the yak at ease. She opened the door a little bit more and gave them another sweeping glance.

 

“And are any of those questions having to do with his whereabouts last Thursday and Friday night? Because I can tell you _all_ about that, no need to wait for him to come home!”

 

“No, ma’am, this is something concerning his job, and it took place a few days before that. Is he here?”

 

The yak harrumphed and shook her head, sending all the dreadlocks there cascading into her eyes. She parted them again impatiently with one hoof. “You just missed him. He just left for work fifteen minutes ago. You can try finding him there if you want, but good luck to you if you do.”

 

“Do you know when he’ll be getting off work?”

 

“Probably after midnight; the customs workers for the Tundratown docks always get called until late because the ice is too thick in the morning for any ships to dock, so they can only start in the afternoon. At least, that’s what Leroy kept telling me before I found out where he was whenever he had to work ‘overtime’.”

 

“Thank you, ma’am. Have yourself a pleasant day.”

 

“Whatever.” She slammed the door again, and Nick turned back to Judy with a sigh.

 

“Come on, Carrots; we should probably head back to the station and fill out the paperwork for today. Trying to find an animal down at those docks – especially a customs officer – is a lot harder than it looks.”


	3. Chapter 3

They ran into Snarloff on their way out of the precinct. His coat was covered in bits of wool and his fur was all rubbed in the wrong direction. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in!” Snarloff hissed at him, then took a deep breath and clenched and unclenched his paws.

 

“Today’s not the day for making species puns, Wilde.”

 

“What happened to you, John?” Judy asked with a bit more sympathy. Nick had a habit of irritating everyone from time to time, including her. “You look like you got mobbed by a group of ewes in heat!”

 

He looked over at her. “Close to it. Apparently a wildcat showing up in the middle of the Meadowlands is cause for alarm. I practically got stampeded, and then I almost got arrested for causing a stampede, and I had to fight with the rams who were on patrol up there to convince them that I was a police officer, and not a prey chaser trying to take advantage of some poor sheep.”

 

Nick’s body stiffened. “That sounds like a pretty rough day. Might’ve been better if the ewes had been the ones attacking you; at least then you wouldn’t have had to tangle with the northern patrol squad.”

 

“You’re telling me. On the bright side, I did manage to find the mammal I was looking for.” Snarloff reached inside his coat and passed them a photograph. “Either of you recognize her?”

 

Judy shook her head. “She seems familiar, but I can’t quite place her.”

 

Nick’s smile dropped slightly as he studied the photo of the ibex. “Lyra Whitehoof. Worked as an art dealer, had a bit of a gambling addiction. Disappeared about three years ago after trying to declare bankruptcy but failing because of an inheritance that was being withheld by the government due of the suspicious nature of the relative’s death.”

 

Both of them turned to look at him in awe. “How… how did you—“

 

“I know everyone,” he shrugged. “You shouldn’t be surprised by that at this point.”

 

“This is what I was talking about with you guys having connections!” Snarloff grinned at them. “Anyway, Ms. Whitehoof showed up again a few weeks ago, payed off her gambling debt plus interest and left a substantial tip with the loan shark she got it from. And now she’s working for something called the Church of the Golden Ram. One of her friends called in her sudden reappearance because they claimed Ms. Whitehoof was acting strange, and wanted us to take her in for a psych evaluation to make sure she was okay.”

 

“Okay, but what does this have to do with the case?” Judy asked.

 

“She isn’t the first mammal who’s disappeared only to suddenly return completely devout to a new religion. The old Church of the Pasture got a bunch of new followers recently, and this new one also keeps growing with surprising zeal. A lot of these new followers were people who have been reported missing in the past few years. But here’s the kicker: they’re all small grazing mammals. Specifically, they’re all members of the _Ovis_ and _Capra_ genus’.”

 

“And you couldn’t just say the _sheep_ and _goat_ families?”

 

“Watch it, Wilde,” Snarloff teased. “I’m a biology major. I could run you in _circles_ with all that Latin, Mr. _Vulpes vulpes._ ”

 

“Sure you can, _felis silvestris._ And I can keep up the whole way.”

 

Judy looked at him with a new admiration. “Where did you learn that?”

 

“My mom send me to a Catholic school when I was younger. She was a _huge_ devout of Jesus Capybara, and wanted me to become one too. Didn’t quite work out like that.” He shrugged. “But I did learn a lot of Latin. And then I went to a public high school and took biology.”

 

“Well that’s not something you see everyday. Anyway, all this factors in because we’ve gotten some other calls about a number of lambs and kids being shipped off to boarding school halfway through a semester, and not returning for months on end – well past the end of any school year. All of their parents are among the mammals that came back suddenly devout.”

 

“And so you had a hunch that these kids are being shipped off like the lambs that were discovered at the Tundratown docks?” Nick interjected.

 

“Bingo. If we can prove there’s a correlation between the suspicious disappearances and the animals being shipped off, then we’d have probable cause to search _both_ churches and see if they had records of any of this.”

 

“That’s quite the hunch there, John.” Judy was impressed – and a little intimidated. She always knew that detectives had sharp minds and had to be able to think outside the box, but this was pushing even _that_ expectation. Even though it sounded like Snarloff was grasping at straws, if he was right… She shuddered.

 

“Thanks, Hopps. So how did you guys fare with your investigations today?”

 

“We found our mystery caller,” Judy informed the wildcat. “A yak by the name of Leroy who works as a customs officer at the Tundratown docks. We tried to meet with him, but we only ended up running in circles.”

 

“Finding a specific customs officer near the Tundratown docks is next to impossible, and he won’t get off work until after midnight, so we decided to try again tomorrow,” Nick added.

 

“But he is for sure our mystery caller?” Snarloff questioned.

 

“We’re mostly sure. We played the recording of the call to the customs office manager, and she identified him for us. We’ll get a full confirmation tomorrow, though, one way or another.”

 

“All this is in our paperwork,” Judy added. “We submitted a copy to your digital drop box.”

 

“Good. I’ll put my information and all relevant photos into your drop boxes as well – right after my meeting with the chief.”

 

As if he had been cued, Bogo popped his head over the railing and called down. “Snarloff! My office, now.”

 

“Coming up, sir! Wish me luck,” he added to the pair in front of him before walking to the stairs.

**

That night was hard for Judy. Sleep only came reluctantly. At first she thought it was because she was too hot, so she threw off the blankets and opened the window. But then she got too hot and too cold at the same time, so she pulled on the blanket. Then she was just too hot again so she stripped down to her panties and tried that. She finally managed to fall asleep after that, only to be woken up by nightmare after nightmare. Most of them involved the unknown hitmammal finding one of her littermates, or her parents, or once even Nick, and shooting them. Those ones all ended around the time of the funeral for the dead loved one, and she’d wake up with wet spots on her pillow from the tears, gasping for breath.

 

The last nightmare she had that night brought her back to the rumbling. Those jackals ripping into her skin, only this time there wasn’t anyone around to save her. Being forced to watch as Lily and Mark were ripped apart by a pair of hyenas, the two rabbits’ last cries echoing around in her head, and her own moaning filling her ears. Then one of the jackals spat out a clump of flesh and fur.

 

“Hey, keep it down, bunny cop.” The voice sounded suspiciously like Bucky.

 

“Yeah, keep it down!” Another jackal had joined in now. “Some of us have late nights, and another shift of work today! And the last thing we need is to be kept up by your moaning.” And that one sounded far too much like Pronk to be a coincidence.

 

Judy opened her eyes to find herself lying in bed. In her bed, in her apartment, with the tear-stains in her fur and on her pillow. Her arm and leg were sore where the jackals had _actually_ bit her, but other than that she seemed fine. “Wh-what are you guys talking about?” she asked blearily.

 

“Look, rabbit,” Pronk called through the wall. “I don’t care if you get yourself off, and normally when we hear it, it puts _us_ into the mood as well, but if you’re gonna do it at 5:30 in the morning, you need to be quiet about it.”

 

“I… that’s not what I was doing!” Judy was sure they could hear her blushing from embarrassment.

 

“Hey, little bunny,” Bucky said in a kinder voice. “We really don’t care most of the time, and you don’t have to be embarrassed about it. Just try to keep it down when we’re asleep, okay? Just like we do for you!”

 

Judy wanted to _scream_ at them for making assumptions, and for telling her blatant lies about their sexual intercourse habits, and even for insinuating that they got hot listening to her get off (even if she sometimes couldn’t help the same thing happening to her when they went at it) and—

 

“Oh my god,” Judy muttered, dragging her ears down over her eyes and dropping her head into her paws. “I-I’m sorry, you guys,” she said resignedly. “I’ll try to keep it down from now on.” There was no point fighting with them after the night she’d had, and _definitely_ not if she was right about what was happening.

 

Judy sent Nick a quick text asking if he could pick her up an extra small decaf, and then hopped in the shower. Normally she didn’t drink coffee, but she needed something to keep her awake the whole day through. Though even a decaf was pushing the limits of how much caffeine her body should have.

 

She dried off and dressed quickly, putting her credit card into her wallet and grabbing a few sticks of celery before dashing out the door. Down the stairs – the elevator was broken _again_ – and out the door in the opposite direction of Central Square. The pharmacy was a little out of her way, but it would make the rest of her day a heck of a lot easier to deal with.

 

Judy found what she was looking for in a locked display case, right beside the rabbit contraceptives. A quick conversation with a pharmacist and one instant blood test later, and the pharmacist in question was handing her the receipt. Then Judy was dashing out the door, both the little pill bottle and the receipt sitting snugly in her breast pocket.

 

She met Nick at their cubicle. Her coffee was sitting in front of him while his was in his paw. He had obviously been waiting for her. “Well I was going to ask what you’d done with the real Judy Hopps, but I think I can guess the answer to that question already.”

 

“Wh-what? What are you talking about?”

 

He enumerated on his fingers. “Dishevelled fur, bags under your watery eyes, asking for a coffee, almost being late for work – I mean, you can see where I might get the impression that you aren’t entirely yourself today.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Rough night. Rough start today, too.”

 

“Apparently,” he said sarcastically. “Come on, or we won’t make it to the bullpen before the chief.”

 

“Just a sec.” Judy pulled out the little pill bottle and popped one into her mouth, followed by a swig of water from a plastic bottle that she’d pulled from the case she kept under her desk. She shuddered, then tossed the pill bottle into a drawer and grabbed her coffee. “Okay, let’s go.”

 

“What was that?” They were hurrying to get to the bullpen because of her delay, but her boyfriend still managed to make casual conversation. Or maybe a little less than casual, especially if he’d seen the label on the pill bottle. His eyesight was, admittedly, a little bit better than hers.

 

“It was… um…” She sighed. “It was a hormone pill. For, y’know…”

 

“Contraception?” His nose wrinkled, and she realized that she had shocked him. That was rare.

 

“Not quite. It’s just to help put a damper on my heat cycle.” She could feel her cheeks and her ears blazing with a blush, and then she chided herself about being embarrassed. She’d been _sleeping_ with this fox for the past month and a half, and he’d seen her naked. Why was she so embarrassed about talking about a normal function of her body?

 

“Those exist?”

 

“They do for rabbits, because our heat cycles are more intense than other mammals,” she replied with an awkward shrug. Then, “Here’s Bogo, we’ll talk more later.”

 

They just managed to squeeze in before the chief, and he gave them a hard glare as he passed them.

 

“Alright, settle down,” he grumbled. “You all know I don’t care for long speeches, so I’ll keep this brief. Hopps, Wilde, welcome back. And I will say that, were it up to me, you two would each receive an award for being the biggest headaches that I have ever had to deal with in my time as the Chief of Police. And the only reason that you managed to beat out Officers Wolford and Delgato is because you two were a headache from _two hundred and eleven miles away!_ ” Everyone laughed at that except for Wolford, Delgato, and Judy, who all looked affronted.

 

“Told ya we’d get an award from the chief for that!” Nick elbowed his partner lightly.

 

She smirked back at him. “Really? Because the way I remember it, slick, you said we’d get the award for being the worst safe-house-ees ever.”

 

“Quiet!” Everyone snapped back to attention at Bogo’s bellow, but the cape buffalo’s scowl had lessened considerably with the reaction to his comment. “Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time we acknowledged some stripes of seniority. Evelyn, happy birthday.”

 

Another round of howling and cheering; the polar bear Liam Anderson punched his partner on the shoulder as Fangmeyer shoved him off lightly, laughing at his reaction. She also fist-bumped McHorn, who sat between Judy and Longclaw. Judy waved at her and gave her as big a smile as she could muster. Nick gave her a little bow and mimicked taking his hat off to her. She laughed and smiled back at them.

 

This time Bogo waited for the noise to die down a little bit before continuing with the day’s assignments. It took a few minutes, but then they were free to go.

 

The two of them made their way to their cruiser. On the way, Judy took a sip of her coffee. “Blech! What kind of coffee is this?”

 

“It’s a decaf Frappuccino. Too sweet for you?”

 

“No, too bitter!”

 

“Okay, then let’s stop by the break room and grab a few extra sugar packets.”

 

After stirring the contents of three sugar packets into her drink, she and Nick finally got to their cruiser. She got into her seat and put the key in the ignition, but Nick’s paw stopped her from starting the vehicle. She looked over at him quizzically and he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She practically melted into his paws, which he’d placed on her paw and her shoulder.

 

He pulled back and looked at her before combing the fur on her head back into place with his claws. She shivered in his grip and let out a slight moan, causing him to smirk again. “So, a rabbit’s heat cycle is more intense than those of other mammals, eh?”

 

“Mm-hmm.” She pressed her head up into the palm of his hand, encouraging him to continue stroking her there. “We… we have like, 3 times stronger heat cycles than… than most other mammals. It’s because… because rabbits are supposed to breed like crazy, right? Well, that’s… that’s the reason why our heat cycles are so much… so much stronger.” She was starting to breathe heavily. Nick, noticing her discomfort, moved his hands towards her ears.

 

After her reaction to him pulling her ear after the call with Bogo from Bunnyburrow, Nick had done some research on rabbit ears. To rabbits, their ears were a very intimate place to touch someone, and almost no one touched them after the rabbit was old enough to clean them by themselves.

 

Of course, the ears were also an extremely sensitive place on a rabbit’s body to begin with, and were often used in lapine sex as a sensual area. So when he curled his paws around them loosely and stroked upwards from the base to the tips…

 

“Oh-oh god, Nick!” She moaned out his name in a way that almost pitched a tent in his pants. Judging by the way she had one paw pressed to her crotch and had her legs rubbing together, she was enjoying the sensations immensely.

 

So he took his paws completely off of her and turned back to face the dashboard.

 

“Ugh! Ni-ick, come on! You can’t just do that to me and then leave me hanging!”

 

“I’m sorry, Carrots, but as a respectable member of the Zootopia Police Department, I cannot dishonour myself and my uniform to pleasure you out in view of the general public.”

 

“Nick!” He glanced over at her.

 

She was biting her lip and had both paws pressed down into the crotch of her pants. Her ears were flat back against her head, and she was blushing fiercely. He suddenly found himself thinking about exactly what he was doing to her, and how she was responding, and how his body was responding, and how they were answering each other, and how much he wanted her and how much he needed her and how much he wanted to rut her and claim her right then and there and not care about who saw or if they got fired or if anyone saw a fox stripping and rutting a rabbit right on the hood of the ZPD cruiser—

 

Nick snapped himself back into his mind and realized that the tent in his pants had finally been pitched, and that he was starting to get just as flustered as his girlfriend. He quickly swept his tail into his lap and pulled out his phone.

 

“You wicked fox,” she said, then leapt at him. He just barely had enough time to register what she had said before she planted a quick nip at the base of his left ear. Feeling her teeth connecting with his skin sent a thunderbolt shooting down his spine that did nothing to help the situation under his tail. If anything, it made the fur all stand on end.

 

He gaped at her, and she stared back at him coyly, biting her lip all the while, then turned back to the steering wheel and started the car. It was a good thing, too; otherwise he likely would have done everything that he had been thinking about less than a minute before.

 

“And for your interest, Officer Wilde,” she said to him in a hushed tone that _he_ could barely hear, let alone the dashboard camera. “The pill only helps dampen the effects that _I_ feel; the pheromones that I’m probably putting out? It has _no_ effect on those.”

 

“Good,” he swallowed and tried again. “Good to know, Officer Hopps.”

 

She giggled as she pulled out of the ZPD lot, then took another sip of her coffee. “By the way, Nick. Yesterday, how did you know all that information about Lyra Whitehoof? Don’t tell me you went to school with her, too!”

 

“Ms. Whitehoof came to me when I was working for your goddaughter’s grandfather,” Nick said, choosing his words with care. “She pulled out this whole story about needing a loan, and tried to get one interest free. Didn’t quite work out, but he did help her get situated in her new life, for a small fee.”

 

“Oh. That… why does that not surprise me?”

 

“Good question. I could never understand what criteria he used for determining giving a mammal a loan, but hey, that was his business and not mine.”

 

“I meant the fact that you worked for him. Or the fact that he gave out loans. Or the fact that he would charge a fee for the situating thing.”

 

“Hey, how else would I get in with him? And how do you think he started making money?”

 

She just laughed and took another sip of her coffee. “You know, this is good stuff. I can see why you drink it every day.”

 

“Starting to feel the effects, are we?”

 

“Yeah, a little bit. I hope it gets stronger, though, otherwise I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it through the day.”

 

“What?” Nick asked in mock surprise. “Officer Judy Hopps isn’t powered by a miniature palladium arc-energy reactor implanted into her chest?”

 

“Har har. I’m a rabbit, not Iron Mammal.”

 

“I’m surprised you got that reference.”

 

“I may not have had much time for watching movies, but I _did_ get to see some of the most iconic ones. Plus pop culture is a lot harder to ignore than you might think.”

 

He grinned at her, then asked, “So why was it such a rough night for you that you needed me to buy you your first coffee this morning?”

 

“Please, this isn’t my first coffee by a long shot. How else do you think I pulled those all-nighters in university?”

 

“You didn’t answer my question.”

 

“Nightmares,” she said after a moment. “About the hitmammal, mostly, though there was one about the rumbling too.”

 

“I know how those go.”

 

“It… I just…”

 

“Judy, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I get it.” She nodded mutely. “And is that what threw off your morning, too?”

 

“Sort of,” she muttered, then told him about her morning. When she was done, he gave a low whistle.

 

“Jeez, we really need to get you out of that tiny apartment.”

 

“I… yeah. We’ll see.” She shook herself to clear her head. “Let’s just focus on the case for now, though. Somehow I have a feeling that with my luck today, Leroy won’t be a happy camper.”


	4. Chapter 4

“So, Leroy – can I call you Leroy?” The yak gave Nick a non-committal grunt. “Leroy. We’d just like to ask you a few questions about the phone call that you made to 911 last week.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, officer. I didn’t make any kind of phone call to 911 last week.”

 

“We have reason to believe you did.” Judy played back the recording of the phone call from her phone, which she’d synced with the digital drop box to make it easier to review the files. “The voice in this recording was identified by Mrs. Wanda Stripenia yesterday. She claims that it was you. Do you deny that claim?”

 

“I’m sorry, officers, but I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I never made any kind of call to 911, and I’ve never spoken enough to Mrs. Stripenia for her to reasonably be able to identify my voice just from that scratchy recording.”

 

“Hey, c’mon, man,” Nick replied, spreading his arms. “We get it. You want to keep your family safe, and that tidy wad of cash they gave you is a pretty nice incentive to boot. And we aren’t going to take either of those things away from you. We’re just trying to find those poor, lost lambs.”

 

Judy, catching on to Nick’s idea, added, “Three lambs have been reported missing so far, Mr. Yakson. Who knows how many others will go missing? We just want to find these poor little lambs and bring them back to their worried parents. You’re a father yourself; wouldn’t you want everyone else to do as much as they could to find your kids, if anything like this happened to you?”

 

The yak mulled over their words for a few minutes. “If they’ve been reported missing, then why haven’t I heard anything on the news yet of any amber alerts?” Nick could tell that the mammal before them was just holding out on some stubbornness, and if they played their cards right, he would give them all the information he had without too much more trouble.

 

“An amber alert will likely be issued this evening,” Nick replied, getting more serious. “We got the call in the early hours of the morning, and the amber alerts don’t normally get put out until the noon-time news, at least.” It was still only eleven o’clock.

 

Leroy’s face contorted into a grimace. “Just what the hell are you two trying to pull here? Amber alerts hit the news ASAP, so that no matter what time an animal tunes in, they’ll be able to hear about it. So what’s this all about? Is this a scam? Is the government trying to make me confess to something I didn’t do?” The yak’s eyes widened. “Are you two even real police officers? Only rabbit I’ve ever heard about being in the ZPD quit after two weeks ‘cause she couldn't handle the pressure, and what mammal in their right mind would _ever_ trust a fox cop!”

 

“Well then, Leroy, apparently you’ve been living under a rock, because that bunny cop that resigned joined up again a few months later, and this fox cop is legit thanks to the mayor’s Mammal Inclusion Initiative, so you’re out of luck on that escape route.” Nick gave a soft chuckle.

 

Leroy snorted and eyed them nervously. “The Mammal Inclusion initiative? You’ve got to be joking, right? That thing was put in place just to get the sheep vote, along with the old mayor, Bellwether.”

 

“Why would Mayor Lionheart put so much effort into getting the sheep vote, though?” Nick asked. “Sheep of all sizes were already able to get most jobs that they applied for, including in all city-run services like the police. And besides that, Officer Hopps and myself have benefited more from the Mammal Inclusion Initiative than any sheep has, so far as I know.”

 

The yak snickered. “It’s not like mammals like you could ever understand. The Sheeple Doctrines have a lot more influence over Zootopia’s political structure than most people realize – especially people like you, who take it for granted.”

 

“The Sheeple Doctrines?”

 

“Documents that are supposedly used to give the sheep enormous amounts of power in government and other areas of life. It’s used by sheep conspiracy theorists as proof for their thoughts,” Nick explained. Judy’s ears perked up, and he could almost see the cogs whirling behind her eyes.

 

“Oh,” she started, glancing up at Nick with a meaningful look.

 

“Carrots,” he said warningly, catching her meaning even if he wasn’t exactly sure where she was going with this just yet.

 

“Mr. Yakson,” she continued, pretending to not understand his warning. “May I assume, then, that you are also eyes wide open to the threat that the sheep conspiracy poses to our city?”

 

The yak widened his eyes. “I-I am, but… how do I know that you’re not just mocking me?”

 

“Perhaps if we do an exchange of information, it would convince you?”

 

The yak looked uncertain for a minute. Then his wife called from the other room, “Don’t encourage him with his whack-job stories! He’s already too obsessed with that fictional crap as it is!”

 

“You be quiet!” Leroy shouted back. “I’m being questioned by the police, they don’t need you to defame me in front of them!”

 

“If they aren’t already shaking their heads and backing out, I’m not sure if my making you seem even crazier will do anything, because they’re obviously crazy too!”

 

“Stop disrespecting these fine officers!”

 

“A moment ago you were questioning if they even _were_ real police officers! Now you believe their story all of a sudden?”

 

“You hush, woman! I’ll have this argument with you later!”

 

“Don’t you hush _me_ , Leroy, especially not after what happened last week!”

 

Leroy looked ready to explode, but Nick clearing his throat caused the ungulate to look back over at them. “Sorry, officers. Things have been… tense… around her lately.”

 

“And whose fault is that, Leroy!”

 

“Anyway,” he said, ignoring his wife. “An exchange of information, you said? Sure, I don’t mind that. But you two go first.” He narrowed his eyes. “ _If_ you know what you’re talking about.”

 

Nick and Judy exchanged a glance, and then, seeing Judy’s blank look, Nick sighed and tapped his claws on the table in irritation. It figures that her plan would backfire onto him. He took a deep breath, recalling everything that Honey had taught him about the sheep conspiracy, then dove right in.

 

“The sheep conspiracy is all about how the sheep secretly control the governments in all the cities of Animalia. Basically, the sheep have a ton of power because of the ridiculous amounts of money that they devote to political campaigns through lobby groups such as Herds in Grazing, as well as the fact that they’re herd animals and they’ll all follow the leader’s opinions almost as flawlessly as lemmings. Then there’s also the newer additions about how Bellwether was the daughter or niece or whatever of their secret ‘supreme leader’, and that her plan to dart all the predators in Zootopia was actually created by this supreme leader and she was just the one carrying it out. Word is that the ‘sheeple’ as they’re called by the conspiracy theorists, are secretly trying to make Zootopia an all prey paradise by enslaving the predators, and that these new regulations with the shock collars are just the beginning.”

 

Nick _was_ going to let the coffee and donut thing slide, given the way she’d looked that morning, but after making him pull that little speech out of his memory banks, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

 

Apparently he’d been pretty convincing, because Leroy’s eyes had gotten really wide, and he’d started breathing heavily. “So… so it’s true then. The sheep conspiracy is real. I-I always thought it was, but I could never be sure! But now I know!” The yak laughed a maniacal laugh, and Nick suddenly found himself inching his paw towards his utility belt. No ungulate should be making a sound like that.

 

“Mr. Yakson,” Judy interrupted firmly. “Now that we’ve told you what we know of the sheep conspiracy, we’d like you to answer our questions about these missing lambs. We believe that there’s a connection between the two, and any help you could provide us will be helpful in stopping these sheeple once and for all.”

 

“I… yes, of course. Forgive me, Officer Hopps. I’ll tell you both everything I know from that night.”

**

“Let’s go for lunch,” Nick said as he jerked open the passenger door of the cruiser. It had frozen over while they were interviewing Leroy. “You’re buying today.”

 

“Okay, fine. So long as we’re not going back to Buggaburger.”

 

“So where the hell did all that crap about the sheep conspiracy come from? You didn’t even know what it was, and yet you still managed to convince him to open up about it!”

 

Judy shrugged apologetically. “It was a mix of things. Mainly the fact that he brought up the Sheeple Doctrines, and the fact that he seemed super irritated with the Mammal Inclusion Initiative and what it meant for sheep.”

 

“There has to be more to it than that. As effective as you are when you use it, manipulation isn’t really your style. And you definitely don’t do it based off of broad hunches like that.”

 

“Okay,” she admitted. “It was also because of the odd colour of his fur.” While Leroy’s fur was much cleaner than his wife’s – and not at all matted – what was surprising about it was that it was dyed a bright orange colour, similar to the colour of Nick’s fur. And Nick knew that that was in no way a natural colour for a yak.

 

“So he enjoys looking like a traffic cone; what does that have to do with this?”

 

Judy giggled at the imagery before replying. “I remembered that, in a leadership seminar I took in college, the lecturer was telling us that mammals can react to different colours in unusual ways. One of the examples that she gave was that, because of their natural predation by foxes, sheep had a hard time looking at bright orange colours, and so to avoid wearing them if you wanted sheep to like you. I’ve also heard that the “big brother” campaign used a sheep as the logo because sheep are everywhere, and that the people that are trying to avoid detection from the ‘spy sheep’ wore bright orange to help keep the sheep from reading their movements. I figured that probably had something to do with the sheep conspiracy that our buddy Leroy was referencing, so I took a chance.”

 

“Well it payed off, I guess,” Nick groaned, rubbing his eyes. “I just wouldn’t make a habit of bringing it up; a lot of animals, and especially prey animals, get very irritated when you talk about the sheep conspiracy. And the last thing you want is to have people start thinking you’re being specieist against sheep.”

 

“Oh, come on. That wouldn’t happen.”

 

“It totally would. Mammals love to jump to conclusions about police brutality, police prejudice, and pretty well anything else they can pin on us fine officers. It helps make them feel better about themselves and their own spot in the social food chain. It’s a psychological thing, and most of them wouldn’t want to actually mess with any of us, but it’s still a pretty common occurrence.”

 

They entered the tunnel that would bring them into Sahara Square, and Nick put on his sunglasses. They instantly started to fog up. It only took them a few minutes to get out into the world on the other side, but the sun was so bright when they got to the desert district, Nick still had to shield his eyes.

 

“You know,” Judy commented, squinting slightly. “It’s at times like these where I don’t envy your night vision.”

 

“It’s at times like these where I’m glad that Nocturnal Vision exists. They’re the company that made my shades; thicker glass, darker tint, makes it easier to deal with the bright world around us.”

 

“Maybe I should get myself a pair, then. How much were yours?”

 

“Mine cost me $100, and they’re just the basic model.”

 

“Say what! How can they afford to charge so much?”

 

“Nocturnal Vision only builds their product when someone orders it; there isn’t a big enough market for them to turn a profit by mass-producing.”

 

“Okay then, never mind. I think I’m just going to go out and get a regular old pair of drugstore sunglasses.”

 

Suddenly the radio crackled with Clawhauser’s voice. “Dispatch to all units. Officers down in Cactus Grove Plaza and requesting assistance. Suspect is a male pig wearing a green golf shirt and cargo shorts, armed with a fox Taser.”

 

“Officer Wilde copies that, Dispatch,” Nick radioed in. “Our ETA is 4 minutes.” He turned on the sirens and Judy stepped on the gas, turning right towards Cactus Grove Plaza.

 

When they got there, the situation had escalated. They could very clearly see Fangmeyer lying on the ground, not moving. Anderson wasn’t too far away, grimacing in pain and looking like he was just starting to wake up. All around them were predators, writhing on the ground in pain, presumably from their shock collars, seeing as they were clutching at their neck.

 

Another group of predators, who seemed to be able to control their anger a lot better, were all surrounding a group of prey animals primarily composed of pigs and mules. Right at the forefront of the group, gesturing wildly with the clearly labelled fox Taser, was their culprit in his green golf shirt and cargos, just as Clawhauser had called in.

 

Judy leapt out of the vehicle immediately and started towards the group, one hand on her tranq gun. He was thankful that she’d decided to sign one out that day; she didn’t always like to carry one because she claimed it only made mammals more aggressive.

 

Nick grabbed the radio again. “This is Wilde. Dispatch, we’re gonna need backup. Looks like a fight’s about to break out between a group of predators and prey. Anderson and Fangmeyer are both down, presumably by fox Taser. We’ve also got another half-dozen predators who are getting shocks from their collars; send down some EMT’s.”

 

“Copy that, Wilde. ETA is around six minutes.”

 

Nick grabbed the keys to the cruiser – no use having someone hijack it – and dashed over to where Fangmeyer and Anderson were. He checked Fangmeyer first, and found that she was just waking up as well. He checked her vitals quickly and did a routine surface check to make sure that she wasn’t bleeding, then told her to lay down and that the paramedics would be there soon, before going over and repeating the procedure with Anderson.

 

A sudden roar went up from the crowd, and Nick spun around just in time to see the head hog fall to the ground with a tranq dart in his shoulder, the Taser tumbling out of his grip. A dozen hooves reached for the weapon, only for Judy to wave them off with the tranq gun in their faces.

 

Nick rushed over to help his partner, dodging around the flailing bodies of the other predators whom he knew he could do nothing to help.

 

“Everyone stay back,” Judy called out. “Prey move to the right,” she indicated which side she meant, “and predators to the left.” She pointed in the opposite direction, never moving her gun away from the crowd of prey animals. Nick turned to the predators and repeated her instructions.

 

“But they started it!”

 

“Easy there,” Nick said to the cougar who was bearing down on him. “We want to make sure that this doesn’t escalate further. Once we’re sure that everyone is a safe distance from each other and no one else gets hurt, we’re going to start trying to figure out exactly what happened here.”

 

“I can tell you exactly what happened—!”

 

“I’m sure you can, ma’am, but I need you to remain calm and let us do our jobs please. Right now, we need to prioritize the safety of the mammals around us. Now please, if you could move to the side…” Nick kept his easy smile in place, but slowly reached his paw back to his gun holster as the cougar started to growl.

 

Just when Nick thought he was going to have to shoot the predator, ZPD cruisers pulled into the plaza from all sides, and more than a dozen officers stepped out, tranq guns and even a few bullet-guns making an appearance in the paws of the officers. With the appearance of all the uniformed lions, tigers, bears, wolves, and rhinos, the assembled crowds started following the directions Judy was still shouting pretty quickly.

 

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later, and with their help everyone who had been convulsing on the ground started waking up from their collar-induced seizures.

 

Chief Bogo shouldered his way through the crowd towards the pair, from where he’d been checking on Fangmeyer and Anderson. “Hopps, Wilde,” he said in his gruff baritone. “Good job on crowd control. I take it our friend here was the only civilian casualty from an officer’s weapon?”

 

“I believe so, sir,” Judy replied, looking up at the buffalo.

 

“Report on the situation?”

 

“He started waving the activated Taser in my face, sir, and when it looked like he was going to jab it at me, I tranq’ed him. It was entirely in self-defence.”

 

“I believe you. Did any predator’s collars go off since you arrived on scene?”

 

“No, sir. Not that I’m aware of.”

 

The buffalo nodded his head, then turned to Nick. “Wilde, what was the status of the officers when you arrived? I’m _assuming_ that you went to check on them, first, while your partner was dealing with this lot.”

 

“I did, sir,” Nick replied. “Fangmeyer was just waking up as I got to them. I checked vitals and a brief surface scan; the only thing I could detect was a small patch of burnt fur on her paw. I’d imagine that that’s where she got hit by the Taser. As for Anderson, it turns out that he became enraged by Fangmeyer getting hit and his collar went off. Once I made sure that they were okay, I came to assist Officer Hopps.”

 

Bogo nodded again. “And neither of you are injured, correct?” They both nodded. “Good. How’s your collar holding up, Wilde? I’m assuming that you didn’t get a shock?”

 

“No, sir. I haven’t felt anything from my collar since I got it.”

 

“Good. Let’s keep it that way. You two are cleared to return to the station; I want your reports on this incident filed away just the same as everyone else. We’ll take over from here.”

 

They both saluted and headed back to their cruiser. “Ready for lunch yet, fluff?”

 

“After all that excitement, slick? I’m surprised you even need to ask.”


	5. Chapter 5

They met up for breakfast the next morning at one of the local cafes that Judy liked to frequent when she didn’t have anything at home for a homemade breakfast. It was a nice little place a block out of Central Square owned by a pair of koalas that were always very friendly. They also had some of the best hot chocolate in the city, in Judy’s opinion.

 

“So, Carrots,” Nick said through a mouthful of his blueberry muffin. Judy twitched her ears in annoyance, but Nick pretended to ignore it. “Did you sleep any better last night? I mean, after the day’s event’s and not getting much sleep the night before, it seems like you’d probably sleep like a log.”

 

“Not quite,” Judy admitted. “I’m not sure why, exactly, but the two nights that I _have_ had a normal sleep, it hasn’t been the same. Like, I haven’t slept as well as I was all throughout when we were in Bunnyburrow.”

 

“Homesickness?” Nick asked, swallowing his mouthful at last. “I’ve known plenty of people who find it hard to sleep when they’re not at home. Maybe if you had something to remind you of home in your apartment, you would be able to sleep better.”

 

“I don’t think that’s it,” Judy replied, toying with her carrot cake. She’d needed a pick-me-up that morning because she’d been kept awake late at night by her neighbours on _both_ sides having loud, angry sex until well past midnight. And even after that, she’d been tossing and turning.

 

“Got any ideas, then?” Nick asked. “’Cause it certainly sounds like you do.”

 

Judy sighed impatiently. “The last time I really had a good night’s sleep before we were back home for a month and a half was when Lily stayed with me that one time, the day before the four of us went to dinner at that fancy vegan restaurant in the Rainforest District. And before that, it was only when I’d _really_ need to get some sexual relief in college.”

 

“Excuse me?” Nick felt a sting of surprise and jealousy to find out that Judy had slept with other people. Not that he was one of those puritan mammals who expected his partner to only have sex after marriage, but he hadn’t expected Judy to be the kind of animal to just hook up with others when she felt horny. This was the first time he’d heard any details about her love life before him.

 

“The hormone pills can only go so far,” Judy replied, wearing an amused expression. “What, did you think I got through college being one of those people who swore off alcohol, drugs and sex?”

 

“The drugs, yes. The other two… I guess I just hadn’t thought about it before now and it kind of caught me by surprise.”

 

“Okay, I’ve never done any drugs. But the other two…”

 

“Hmm. And here I thought you were a ‘try everything’ kind of mammal,” he teased.

 

“Oh, hush. Anyway, what I was _going_ to say was, I always sleep better when I’m sleeping with another mammal. That’s the way I grew up. I know you got a glimpse of the way we do things when my dad took you to collect Jeff.”

 

“Did I ever. And your brother Jeff got a pillow to the back of the head.”

 

Judy smiled at that. “Well he kind of deserved it; I mean, he _did_ have the door open when Olivia was in the process of getting changed.”

 

“Oh, so that’s why they threw the pillow at him. And here I just thought they were telling him to let the handsome fox come into their bedroom.” She kicked him, hard, under the table. “Ow!”

 

She huffed and finished her carrot cake in a few bites. “Come on,” she said once she was done. “We need to get going otherwise we could be late for morning muster.”

 

“Yessir, General,” he muttered after her, grabbing his coffee and her hot chocolate as she bounced over to the doors and held one open for him. He handed her the hot chocolate as he passed through. “So what you’re trying to say is that you want to have another mammal living with you.”

 

“Pretty well, yeah.”

 

“And one who sleeps in the same bed as you.”

 

“Yupp!” Her smile and voice were overly chipper, and he thought he could see where she was going with this. He decided to play dumb, though, just in case.

 

“So you… what? You’re thinking of trying to get a roommate to join you in that tiny apartment that could barely be considered a studio?”

 

“Well, maybe… I mean, I don’t think we could fit another bed in there, so he’d have to sleep in bed with me…” She was biting her lip now and practically bouncing while looking up at him.

 

“And you actually think I’m going to let you convince me to move in with you into that tiny one-room apartment? You’re crazy!”

 

“Hey! I know it’s small, but it’s all I can afford right now!”

 

“Unless you had someone else living with you.”

 

“Nick, I wouldn’t make you pay rent if you came to stay with me during the night.”

 

“Seriously, Carrots? If I’m coming to sleep with you every single night, I might as well just move in with you at that point. And most of my stuff would not even fit in your place.”

 

“So you’re suggesting I move in with you at your place?”

 

“Not really,” Nick granted. “What I _was_ thinking, was the two of us getting a place together somewhere around here. I mean you’re paying, what did you say? $2200 a month? For under a hundred square feet. Take it from a former hustler, fluff, you’re getting hustled living in the Pangolin Arms.”

 

“So if we got a place out here together, what would you do with your house?”

 

“I’d probably sell it,” Nick shrugged. “That house comes with a decent parcel of land attached; pretty well everything up to the bridge is mine. And I know for a fact that there’s a few land developers out there who have been eyeing it for a while.”

 

“I’m surprised you haven’t sold it by now, if that’s the case.”

 

Nick shrugged. “Everyone needs a place to live, and so I hung on to it.”

 

They walked into the station and straight to the bullpen, coffee and hot chocolate in paw. Clawhauser was apparently late for work, as his night shift counterpart was staring at the doors with a very irritated expression. Chief Bogo walked into the bullpen a few minutes after the two of them.

 

“Alright, everyone settle down. Settle down!” Nick could practically see a vein in Bogo’s forehead pulsing, even though the buffalo’s fur hid anything like that from view. “QUIET!” Everyone instantly shut up. “Everyone, drop your cases for today. We need to be out in full force.”

 

Delgato growled deep in his throat beside Judy and Nick, surprised. “What’s going on, chief?”

 

“Yesterday, video footage of the events in Cactus Grove Plaza was leaked to the media, and since then it’s blown up. Both the actions of the pig that assaulted Officer Fangmeyer and the actions that Officer Hopps took while defending herself have been released in separate clips, and both predators and prey are up in arms about it. There are protests planned all over the city, and we need to be there to help control the situation in case any of them decide to get violent. I want everyone in full riot gear. We’re meeting with the officers of the second precinct at 0930 at the various rallying points around the city.” He glanced down at his docket. “Also! We’ve gotten special permission from the city council to deactivate all predator collars among the ZPD for the duration of these hopefully peaceful protests.”

 

There was an appreciative rumble at the chief’s words, and everyone quickly went to get suited up, the predators particularly eager at the prospect of having their collars deactivated temporarily.

 

“I’m surprised they’re allowing for the deactivation of the collars,” Nick commented as they waited to receive orders from Taggert or Bogo as to which location they were reporting to. “Especially so soon after they implemented it in the first place.”

 

“Probably because of what happened to Anderson yesterday,” the bunny beside him replied. “He was trying to deal with a potentially deadly situation for himself and the animals around him, and his collar went off and prevented him from doing his job. It’s just one more piece of proof that the collars are bad ideas.”

 

“No need to convince me, Hopps,” he replied, serious for once. “After seeing what happened to all those mammals yesterday… well, if that wasn’t enough evidence, then I don’t know what would be.”

 

“Well…”

 

“And no, prey wearing collars is _not_ going to help get your point across that collars are ridiculous.”

 

“Actually, I think that they’d be a good way to show the city council that the citizens of Zootopia won’t stand for the prejudice against predators,” Andy Furst piped in from behind them.

 

“Andy,” Nick sighed. “Do you even know what we’re talking about?”

 

“Prey wearing collars in protest of predators having to wear shock collars.”

 

“See? I knew I couldn’t be the only one who thought it was a good idea!”

 

“Judy’s talking about having prey wear the same microchip-controlled shock collars that predators are forced to wear, microchip implant and all,” Nick informed the timbre wolf. Suddenly the furry face lost its grin.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Judy, that’s dangerous! You could get hurt?”

 

“You mean like all those predators who got injured yesterday?”

 

“Hey, they were predators, they could handle it! But a delicate bunny like you? Heck, I’m even surprised that they’re letting you to the riots today; aren’t you still on meter maid duty?”

 

Judy rolled her eyes and turned back to the front. “Andy, I think you need to go see the nurse!” She tossed casually over her shoulder. Nick snickered at the sheer amount of mockery that was dripping from her tone. “Obviously you’ve bumped your head and can’t remember any events since before the Night Howler Case! Quick – who won the match between the Greenden Salmons and the Shepherd Meadows Pelicans at the Super Bowl?”

 

“I’m serious, Judy. You need to be careful otherwise you’re gonna get yourself killed! I have half a mind to go up to Sergeant Taggert and have you removed from today’s operations!”

 

“Like hell you will, Furst,” Taggert growled from right beside him. “She’s coming, and that’s the end of story. Although if you’re really that concerned, then I’ll have you watching her back. Hopps,” she said, turning to Judy. “You’re on sniper detail. Your marksmanship at the Academy was top notch, and we’re going to need that for the number of agitated mammals at the riots in Cactus Grove Plaza.”

 

 _Sniper detail_. Well that was new; Judy hadn’t even been aware that the ZPD _had_ a sniper detail, much less that she would be good enough to be on it. Then the implications sank in as she realized what Taggert was implying. “Sergeant, I…”

 

“Problem with your assignment, Hopps?”

 

“I…” She knew if she complained, Taggert would put her on something worse – or with some _one_ worse, like Officer Pickering, the hog that never showered. She sighed in resignation. “No, Sergeant, I was just confirming my orders.”

 

“Good. Furst, you’re with Hopps. I want you each to take a rooftop. Coordinate with the sharpshooters from Precinct 2.” Judy and Andy Furst went down towards the equipment locker to get the sniper rifles.

 

“And me, Sergeant?” While Nick was anxious to save Judy from Furst, he also realized that she was _more_ than capable of dealing with the situation herself, and that he should really focus on what he was doing before someone died.

 

“You’re staying here in Central Square; there’s a more peaceful protest that’s happening here to occupy the whole square. We’re on crowd control to make sure that nothing goes awry. Apparently a bunch of prey animals – particularly larger ones like rhinos and elephants – have joined in with PRAG to show their displeasure at the collars.”

 

“Then why not have exclusively larger prey and predators at the peaceful rally?”

 

“Because the larger mammals are needed to stop angry protesters of all stripes. Come on,” she added and started to move away towards the rest of their group. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for the late update! T_T Life and work kept getting in the way of my writing. I'll try to keep the updates much more regular from now on!

“Nick! Over here!”

 

Nick broke from the line and trudged his way over to Clawhauser’s desk. The fat cheetah was grinning from ear to ear and had a donut stuck frosting-in to his shock collar. “Hey, Ben,” he said as he reached the desk.

 

“How was it out there? I couldn’t see anything because a troupe of elephants were blocking the windows.”

 

“Let’s just say it was a long day,” Nick replied, choosing his words with care and avoiding going the route of snark for once. It just seemed like too much effort at the moment.

 

“Did you get attacked?”

 

“No, the protest was peaceful for the most part. I was placed beside Officer Fleecer from Precinct 2; apparently he wasn’t aware that he would be working with a fox, because when I popped up beside him, he freaked out and practically smashed me with his baton. Thankfully I was able to get my riot shield up in time to block it. Almost caused a stampede among the gathered predators and prey, and had the police up in arms.”

 

“O-M-Goodness! That must have been horrible and really traumatic! I’m surprised that they didn’t send you back for a full checkup! Are you okay?”

 

“The attack by my fellow officer was just unsettling, but I wasn’t hurt. After that little fiasco, the sarge sent him to another part of the grid.”

 

“That’s probably a good thing,” Clawhauser replied with downcast eyes. “I went through the Academy with Fleecer; he’s pretty involved in the collar movement outside of work, and he’s a big anti-pred.”

 

“I didn’t realize that you’d gone through the Academy too! How’d you survive the obstacle courses? Those things were killer!”

 

“Oh, you know,” the cheetah giggled. “I used to be a lot less flabby than I am now. Going through the Academy I looked like a larger version of Serge! Ooh, have you seen—“

 

“Yeah, I follow you on Instamam, remember?”

 

“Ohh, right. I forgot about that. Huh, maybe I should do a throwback Thursday tomorrow, huh? I could post one of my old high school pictures, back when my letterman jacket still fit me.”

 

“Huh? Letterman jacket?”

 

“Oh, yeah! I used to be the quarterback for the Baobab High Barracudas, and then backup quarterback for the Zoo-U Falcons. I only actually gained all this flab when I found out Serge has a thing for bigger guys, after I joined up with the ZPD.”

 

“Really? You put on all that weight just for your husband?”

 

“Well, not really. I mean it’s nice to have someone who supports my love of food and never really tells me to exercise, but I did it because I just _really_ love food and having to limit myself to dieting is such a pain!”

 

“Well, good for you buddy, for finding someone who’s okay with you as you!” For once Nick was being sincere. He knew far too well what it felt like to have everyone constantly criticize you.

 

“Thanks.” The cheetah’s smile almost made the donut unstick from his neck.

 

“Hey, by the way, bud… You’ve got a—“ Clawhauser moved his paws to where Nick was pointing and pulled the donut off. The vanilla frosting was covered in strands of yellow and black fur.

 

“Thanks, Nicky,” Clawhauser said, combing his claws through the fur around the collar and taking away most of the icing in the process. “I was wondering why people kept looking at me funny.” He popped the donut into his mouth. “By the way, I don’t see your partner around anywhere. Is Judy okay?”

 

“She should be,” Nick replied with a shrug. He tried to conceal the fact that the fur on his tail poofed out slightly with uneasiness. “She was put on sniper detail with Andy Furst in Cactus Grove Plaza. As dispatch, I’m sure you’d be the first to hear about anything negative happening.”

 

“Ooh, so the chief didn’t pair you two together?”

 

“Nope. Something about Judy’s scores being a lot better than mine at sharpshooting during the Academy. And they probably wanted to split up the star squad.”

 

“Oh really? And you’re sure it could have nothing to do with the fact that the two of you are the biggest thorns in my side and _consistently_ break protocol when you are together?” Chief Bogo’s sarcastic snarl sounded from behind Nick. Clawhauser looked up at the buffalo quickly and then looked away, his tail lashing.

 

“Hmm, no I don’t think it could have anything to do with that. It’s strange, I don’t actually know what could possibly possess the chief to separate Judy and I. I mean, what good can splitting up their best officers do except to irritate both of them?” The fox didn’t turn around.

 

“Something tells me that that might have been the plan, Nick,” Clawhauser murmured from across his desk. “And, uh… behind… you…”

 

“Come on, buddy, you’re starting to sound like my friend Flash when he talks!” Nick’s grin was quickly wiped from his face and he spun around as he realized that – “Hey chief, you were in Cactus Grove Plaza today, right? Are you guys done down there?”

 

“Not yet, Wilde, but the worst of the unrest has died down for now. Sergeant Silvers is in charge there in my absence. I’m taking this opportunity to have a face-to-face check in with the other sergeants to assess the best placement of our forces for the next 24 hours. There’s a possibility that we’ll need to keep this up overnight, so take your rest while you can otherwise you might not get any.”

 

The chief marched away, over to where Nick knew the other officers were taking showers, having something to eat, and probably trying to nap if they could find a space, too. He was tempted to follow, just to see what was going to be happening, but then sighed and turned back to the desk.

 

“Have you been active in the riot squad this entire time, Nick?”

 

“Nah,” the fox shook his head at the cheetah’s question. “We took it in shifts. There wasn’t enough of a presence needed to have everyone on at the same time. Although I will admit, we got a few false alarms whenever an official from city hall came or left. I’m almost glad, in a sense, that they wised up pretty quickly and took the back door whenever they needed to get in or out.”

 

“That’s good, at least. Riot squads can be pretty draining. So what are you going to do?”

 

“Dinner, first, then I’ll probably take a quick nap. Or maybe check in with Snarloff to see how he’s doing with the case. We’ll see.” Nick usually tried to avoid any kind of cafeteria – too reminiscent of middle school and high school – but today he made an exception as he wandered over to the precinct cafeteria and ordered himself a tuna sandwich and curly cricket fries. Thankfully, as the force was mostly predators, they served a good selection of meals for carnivores.

 

As he was eating, Detective Rammer walked up to him. Nick hadn’t seen the older detective since getting back from Bunnyburrow earlier that week; for such a fat old ram, he sure made himself difficult to spot.

 

“Officer Wilde,” Rammer began. “I take it that since you’re eating alone, Officer Hopps is still out on assignment?”

 

“That would be correct, Detective,” Nick replied, popping a few curly fries into his mouth. “Anything I can do for you in the meanwhile?”

 

“A brief statement – was Officer Hopps distraught when she learned the news?”

 

“Yeah, I’d say that’s an accurate description. I mean, it only signified the possibility of a hitmammal going after her family and friends from back home, where she wouldn’t be able to protect them all. No big deal, if you ask me.”

 

“In what sense?” The ram apparently didn’t appreciate Nick’s sarcasm. Not a lot of mammals did.

 

“The postcard had her parents’ address listed on it. Therefore, if said mammal found out that that was where Judy was staying, there’s a chance he’d go there and then try to use her family as bait to get her to come back so he can eliminate her.”

 

“I see. That could just be a case of over-analyzing the situation, but I will take a separate statement from Officer Hopps to confirm those fears and possibly any other ideas she might have regarding the mammal in question and his motives. Thank you for your time, Officer Wilde. If your partner has any information that she finds pressing to share with me, please encourage her to contact me.”

 

“Will do, detective,” Nick replied, popping a few more curly fries into his mouth. The ram nodded and walked away. After he was gone, Nick finished his meal in silence and returned to where the other officers were starting to gather near the equipment locker.

**

Nick was waiting just outside of the front doors of the ZPD as Judy was getting changed out of her riot gear. The two of them had been relieved of duty as of 11pm because their shift the next day started again at 8. He was thankful; all-nighters were a pain and tended to mess up a mammal’s sleep schedule. He’d carefully regulated his so that he could function during the day, but he knew that because he was naturally nocturnal, if he gave his body even one 24-hour day, it would revert back to the nocturnal schedule.

 

Judy trudged out the doors and straight past him without even realizing it. Her ears were drooping lifelessly and her posture made her look like she could collapse at any moment. She seemed barely able to support the bag that was hanging from her shoulder.

 

Nick fell into step beside her and grabbed the handle on the bag, sliding it off her shoulder. Her paws instantly came up as she turned, but then they dropped again as she recognized his orange fur. “Sorry,” she said, facing forward again and letting him take the duffel bag from her. “I didn’t even realize you were there. I thought you’d have gone home already.”

 

“Hey, c’mon Carrots, give me a little more credit! When have I ever _not_ been waiting for you when we’re done work?”

 

“Yeah, I guess. It’s more uncommon to see you not having a coffee in hand, regardless of what time it is.”

 

He took her weak teasing in stride. “I don’t know about you bunnies – your father especially, with the amount and the strength of the coffee _he_ drinks – but I do know that if I were to have a coffee at 11pm, I wouldn’t get to sleep until at least 3 or 4 in the morning.”

 

“My dad doesn’t drink coffee past noon; if he did, he’d probably be able to start having visions. I think bunnies used to do that in the sixties, or something. Back when nip was really weak still.”

 

“Using coffee as an alternative for nip? That doesn’t sound like a fair trade off.”

 

“Maybe.” She continued trudging listlessly for a few minutes, her jeans and T-shirt rumpling as she walked.

 

Nick kept trying to cheer her up with jokes and anecdotes that he found absolutely hilarious, but which couldn’t seem to penetrate the haze of exhaustion that had settled over her mind. Finally, as they got to her apartment building, he stopped. There was no use irritating the landlord; the old armadillo wasn’t very enthusiastic about Nick visiting in the best of circumstances.

 

Judy fumbled with her keys in the lock for a few minutes before managing to get it undone. She dragged her feet over to the bed and dropped herself down onto it. “You can just drop the duffel bag beside the desk,” she said, then let out the biggest yawn that Nick had ever seen a small mammal make.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to hang it up? Otherwise you’re uniform will be all wrinkled.”

 

“Too tired to care. Just need sleep.” He snorted with laughter. She glanced up, but didn’t have the energy to muster up a convincing glare.

 

He put down her duffel back with her uniform in it as well as his own, and then went over to the bed. He pushed gently on her shoulder. “You need sleep, fluff. Come on, crawl in under the covers and have sweet dreams. And if you have any trouble, just count all those sheep that are supposed to be part of the sheep conspiracy.”

 

That got him a smile. “I need to get undressed for that first, don’t I?”

 

Now _that_ caught him off-guard a little bit. “Uh, aren’t you a little tired for doing anything…?”

 

“Not like that, ya dumb fox,” she said rolling her eyes. “I just prefer to sleep in my pajamas. Want to help me?” She lifted her arms up above her head and he shook his head, but grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and off, purposely allowing his claws to slide gently over her torso as he did so. She shivered a little bit. “O-okay, maybe I meant it like that a _little_ bit.”

 

“ _You’d better not be doing anything to her, you prey chaser!_ ”

 

Nick’s entire body stiffened at the words that had been shouted through the wall. He pulled his claws away and looked down at the ground, his tail lashing and all the fur fluffed out. “I’m sure you can get your pants off yourself there, Judy. I think I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you in the morning.” He reached over and planted a kiss on her forehead before grabbing his duffel bag and heading to the door.

 

“Nick! Wait, Nick, stop!” He stopped, his hand on the door and his bag slung over one shoulder. “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to stay the night?”

 

“ _You’d better not stay the night, fox!”_ Bucky called again.

_“Yeah!”_ Pronk added. “ _Or we’re gonna come over there and make ourselves a nice new rug!”_

He let out a little growl, then took a deep breath and swallowed. “Sleep well Judy. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”

 

“Wait, Nick!” But he was already gone, and she wasn’t able to dredge up the energy to move any further than she was.

 

“ _Hah! Serves him right, the stupid prey chaser!_ ”

 

“You shut up!” Judy screamed, surfing the energy from a sudden wave of anger. “If either of you two say anything like that to him again, I’ll have you both arrested on charges of harassment and hate speech!”

 

There was silence on the other side of the wall for a moment. Then, “Listen, rabbit, we know you’re probably horny as you can be right now, but if you let a fox into your bed you’re basically inviting him to take everything you own, including your innocence – whether you give him consent or not!”

 

“I’ve been sleeping with him for more than a month, you assholes! Sweet cheese and crackers! I’ve _lived with him_ for the past month and a half! So don’t you _dare_ tell me that he’s just some stereotypical evil and shady fox, because he is _nothing_ like that!”

 

“ _Hey, you can’t talk to my partner like that!”_ Bucky’s wavering voice yelled back.

 

“Oh, so it’s okay for you to defend _your_ partner but I’m not allowed to defend _mine?!”_

 

“ _Yeah, well your_ partner _is a predator, and you’re prey,_ ” Pronk replied. “ _That kind of relationship is unsafe, it’s_ unnatural _, and it’s absolutely disgusting!_ ”

 

“Shut your freaking cud-hole already!” Bucky seemed to be reigning in Pronk’s temper, because she heard a lot of murmured words on the other side of the wall, but the Oryx-Antlersons didn’t say anything else to her.

 

Judy curled tight into a ball and stewed in her anger for a while before the first sob broke out and she shoved her face into her pillow as she cried from the weight of the whole situation.


	7. Chapter 7

Nick didn’t show up for work the next morning.

 

Judy walked into the precinct just moments before roll-call and gave a brief wave to Clawhauser, who returned it enthusiastically. She dashed into the bullpen and hopped up onto the chair she normally shared with Nick, only to find that he wasn’t there. She missed his presence beside her.

 

She checked her phone. She’d texted him the previous night before falling asleep, but hadn’t gotten a response. She’d also texted him that morning before hopping in the shower, but still no response. That worried her. Not only did he _always_ have his phone turned on, he always answered her texts.

 

“Hopps!” Chief Bogo called, bringing her attention back to the bullpen. “Where’s your partner?”

 

“He… I’m sure he’ll be here shortly, sir,” she replied, hoping fervently that it was true. “He probably just missed his train and had to wait for the next one.”

 

Bogo grunted. “Very well. If he doesn’t show up, you’re to go on alone today. Now, in addition to providing man-power to Detective Snarloff when he needs it, I want you and Wilde looking into a group of domestic violence cases that have been reported in the Rainforest District over the last 48 hours.”

 

“Yes sir.” Judy hopped down from her seat and grabbed the folder that Bogo was holding out to her. She examined it on the way to her desk. All of the cases were called in from a single neighborhood on the cloud-level, the highest of the elevations in the Rainforest District’s many levels. A pair of ibexes, a pair of black Welsh mountain sheep, and a group of five garganica. They looked like oxen, but she knew from her inter-species biology class in university that they were actually a species of goat.

 

She got back to her desk and checked her phone again. Nick _still_ hadn’t texted her back, and it was almost 9am. She was definitely worried now. Just to make sure he wasn’t purposefully ignoring her, though, she sent him a text that she knew would make him respond.

 

_Care pckge from my parents came in the mail this morning, BIG bag of blueberries with your name on them._

 

She put her phone down on the desk that she shared with Nick and went back to the case file, but had barely glanced at it when the phone vibrated. She practically pounced on it and then nearly dropped it in her eagerness to put in her passcode. When she opened it, however, she found out that it wasn’t a text from Nick, but rather an email. Her ears drooped down her back as she opened it up.

 

_Ms. Hopps,_

 

_While we appreciate your suggestion and dedication to our cause, we feel that it would not be beneficial at this time to encourage prey animals to take on the burden of the collars, regardless of if they are willing to do this on their own initiative. We actually believe that it would be detrimental in changing the opinions of the general public, as many of the mammals in Zootopia who support the collar legislation, and most of those who are on the fence regarding the issue, would regard the situation as the prey being pressured into wearing the collars and having the microchips implanted by the predators around them._

_If you have any other suggestions to help our current situation, we encourage you to submit them to us. We are always looking for more help, and in particular from more well-known mammals such as yourself._

_Should we think of any way that you would be able to help further our cause in a capacity that we are not currently aware of, then we will contact you again. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us again through our website ([www.predatorsrightsactivistgroup.zoo](http://www.predatorsrightsactivistgroup.zoo))._

_Thank you,_

_Miranda Fisher_

_Predator’s Rights Activist Group_

 

Judy sighed. She’d sent them an email a few days ago outlining her idea with the shock collars and why she thought it would be a good idea. She hadn’t heard anything the previous day, presumably because of the amount of time and effort that PRAG put into organizing the peaceful protest rally in Central Square – the one Nick had been assigned to. But now they were rejecting her idea. She figured they probably would; both Nick’s and Nate’s lectures about why that wouldn’t be a good idea had very sound arguments, but she had to try regardless.

 

Judy hated not doing anything, especially when there was something completely unjust going on. That’s part of the reason she had decided to become a police officer. She wanted to be able to _help_ people, and do it legally. She knew a more than a few people from back home who would willingly take justice into their own paws.

 

The young rabbit continued to examine the files for a few more minutes before closing it up and heading over to Sergeant Taggert’s office to sign out a patrol car. Then she hopped up the stairs to the detective’s section on the third floor and over to Snarloff’s desk. He was tapping away at his keyboard, but looked up when she knocked on the wall of his cubicle.

 

“Oh, hey Judy. What’s up?”

 

“I just wanted to check in with you to see what the plan was for today, and if you need Nick and I or not.”

 

“Probably not; I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the information I got from you guys the other day. Especially the part about the sheep conspiracy. I have no idea how it connects but it feels relevant to the entire case somehow.”

 

“I wouldn’t put your faith in the sheep conspiracy, Snarloff,” one of the other detectives called from across the hall. The nameplate on the grizzly’s cubicle said her name was Arianna Hunter. “Mammals have been looking into that for years, and no one’s ever managed to figure it out. Plus the chief will flip out on you if he finds out that you got some major evidence because of some stupid conspiracy.”

 

“Thanks, Hunter, I’ll keep that in mind. In the meantime, though, Judy, you and Nick are free to go do whatever. I’ll give you a call if I need you guys.”

 

“Okay, thanks John.”

 

She walked down to the main floor and past Clawhauser’s desk, then paused and backtracked towards it. She leapt up on the desk beside his Gazelle snow globe and waited for him to finish giving directions to the elderly capybara that was standing in front of his desk.

 

“Okay, and you have a good day too, Mrs. Ramirez. Hey, Judy,” he added as the capybara left. What’s up?”

 

“Have you seen Nick yet today, Ben? He wasn’t in the bullpen this morning and I have yet to find or even hear from him yet.”

 

“No, I haven’t seen him at all. Did you two have a fight or something? He normally always answers your texts right away.”

 

“No! And that’s the strange thing! Like unless he’s still upset about what happened last night, but he isn’t normally one to sulk…”

 

“And what happened last night?”

 

Judy hesitated at the cheetah’s prompting, but decided that she could trust him not to repeat it, despite Nick’s warnings that Clawhauser loved gossip. “Last night Nick walked me home and I invited him to stay the night. Not like that,” she added hastily, seeing Ben’s face light up in what she recognized as his fanboy face. “We were both just really exhausted, and I always sleep better when I’m next to someone.”

 

“Mmhmm, whatever you say, Judy,” Clawhauser replied, popping a donut into his mouth and grinning at her. “So what, did you end up kicking him in his sleep? Did you kick him out of your bed during the night?” He gasped. “Did you accidentally kick him in the muzzle and knock out a tooth or something?”

 

“No! We never even got a chance to climb _into_ bed, because of my stupid neighbors!”

 

“Uh-oh. Don’t tell me their lovemaking scared Nick away!” During one of their endless conversations over lunch, Judy had told him about the sex her neighbors loved to have.

 

“No, but they certainly did scare him. They started threatening to barge in and attack him if he did anything to me. Then they threatened to break in and turn him into a rug if he stayed the night, _after_ hearing me _invite_ him to stay the night with me!”

 

The cheetah beside her made a noise of sympathy and offered her a donut, which she accepted. “You poor things! That kind of negativity has been all over lately, though; it’s pretty well geared towards all predators. I’m sorry you have such specieist neighbors. It must _really_ suck right now.”

 

“Yeah. I don’t think that’s all it is, though. Nick generally ignores them whenever they make comments, but last night he didn’t. Especially after they started calling him a ‘prey chaser’.”

 

Clawhauser gasped and covered his mouth, looking almost as shocked as the first day they’d met and he’d called her cute. She searched his face with her violet eyes, trying to figure out why he was getting so upset.

 

“Calling a predator a prey chaser is a little like calling a prey animal a ‘predophile’,” he explained, noticing her searching gaze. “It’s an absolutely _horrible_ slur, and having even one person say it has been enough to drive a whole family into ruin.” He looked away with a frown on his face. “It happened to my brother,” he continued in a hushed tone. “He fell in love with a zebra, and one person saw them holding paws and shouted that word, and all of a sudden the zebra and her family were selling their house and had moved away. It wasn’t long afterwards that my parents did the same with our family.”

 

“Oh, Ben! I’m so sorry!” Judy’s face melted into one of concern and pity, and she placed a paw over her friend’s. He gave her a weak smile in return.

 

“Thanks, Judy. Anyway, if Nick got called a prey chaser, he could be worried that someone will try to attack him, or that he’ll be reported and lose his job if he’s seen working with you. Word spreads fast, and especially with everything that’s happening right now…”

 

“Yeah, I guess. I just wish he would let me know what’s happening.”

 

“Don’t worry, Judy, I’m sure he’ll let you know what’s going on soon.”

 

She was about to reply when she spotted Bogo heading towards them, and he looked more irritated than usual. If he caught her chatting with the cheetah beside her, he would likely have a fit and reassign her to parking duty. “Thanks, Ben, but now I gotta go! I’ll see you later!”

 

“Bye, Judy! Good luck! I’ll let you know if Nick shows up!”

 

She dashed out to the ZPD parking lot and got in her cruiser. She waited for Nick to get in on the passenger side, only to remember that he wasn’t with her today. She sighed and started the engine before putting in the first of her three addresses.

**

Judy spent her entire day going back and forth between ZPD Precinct 1 and the Rainforest District as she got one confession after another from the assailants in the domestic abuse calls. All four of them – one ibex, one sheep, and two garganicas – had admitted to it right away, claiming that they felt bad about what they had done to their partners. One of them had a kid, and the look on her face as she put the lamb’s father in handcuffs broke her heart. It hurt even more when she heard the little lamb’s voice saying, “When is daddy going to be coming home?” The ram in question had broken his parole conditions by getting drunk, coming home, and beating his wife. He would be lucky to get out anytime in the next six years.

 

Of the four cases, only the ewe had decided to press criminal charges against her partner. However, because they had confessed, Judy had to arrest all four mammals even though she knew that it would likely not lead to a trial or any kind of conviction without the support of each mammal’s victim.

 

Another strange aspect, however, was that all four of the accused mammals had been at the same bar, The Cloven Hoof, the night they had assaulted their partners. Not all of them had been there the same night. And only the one ram had gotten drunk; the rest were apparently only meeting there after a poker game and took the regulations on DUIs very seriously.

 

Just as she was finishing logging all her paperwork for the arrests, her phone buzzed in its holster on the back of her utility belt. She picked it up and hit the talk button without checking to see who the caller was.

 

“Hello?” She was rewarded with a scream in her ear.

 

She threw the phone away from her with a yell only to have it clatter down onto the ground in the middle of the hallway, right in the path of Francine. The only reason that the elephant didn’t step on it was because Finnick just kept right on screaming, loud enough to be heard across the office.

 

“YO! BUNNY GIRL! YOU’D BETTER TELL THAT MOTHERFUCKIN’ ASSHOLE FOX OF YOURS TO START ANSWERING MY TEXTS BEFORE I MOVE MY ASS AND PLANT A FUCKIN’ PAWPSICLE STICK RIGHT UP HIS SHITHOLE!” There was a brief pause in the fennec fox’s tirade, where Judy could tell the entire office had gone silent. Then, “BUNNY GIRL! YOU LISTENIN’ TO ME? OR DO I NEED TO COME DOWN THERE AND FUCKIN’ DO IT MYSELF?!”

 

“Finnick!” Judy replied out loud as she went to retrieve her phone. “Stop screaming, please! You just about ruptured my eardrum, and now the entire office here at the ZPD heard your little speech!”

 

She heard a quiet, “Fuck,” from the phone as she picked it up and brought it closer to her face.

 

“I’m going to put the phone to my ear now, and if you start screaming again I’m going to hang up on you and block your number, okay?” She could practically hear the small beige fox internally screaming as he tried to control himself.

 

“Fine,” he responded at a normal volume. “For the record, did you have me on speakerphone?”

 

“No, you were just loud enough that it broadcast all throughout the office.” She waved an apology to Francine, who still looked a little startled from the outburst, and mimed buying the elephant a donut to make it up to her. “Did your collar go off? With that amount of rage in your system, I’d be surprised it didn’t.”

 

“That ain’t rage, Flopsy. That’s just mild irritation. Not nearly enough to set off these fuckin’ collars. But seriously, where’s Nick? Normally he’ll give me a reply when I shoot him a text, but today he’s been completely MIA. I mean, I haven’t seen him in more than a month, and he repays me by suddenly disappearing again? Like, what gives?”

 

“I don’t know, either,” Judy admitted quietly. “I tried messaging him last night, and this morning a few times, but he hasn’t responded to any of my texts, and he didn’t show up to work today. I don’t know _what_ ’s going on with him, but if he’s ignoring you too, then that makes me a little more concerned.”

 

“The fuck’d you say to him last night?” Finnick asked after a moment. “He called me at 11:30 at night and asked me to come pick him up at your place, said he needed to blow off some steam. I show up five minutes later though, and he’s disappeared.”

 

Judy sighed and quietly informed Finnick of what had caused Nick to leave her apartment the night before. The fennec fox was silent for a few minutes.

 

“Damn…”

 

“Yeah. I tried getting Nick to stay, but I guess they scared him off. And then I pretty well screamed at them until I fell asleep.”

 

“Nick was right; you do need to get out of that shitty-ass apartment.”

 

“No kidding. I just haven’t had time to look at anywhere else, and I was hoping to look with Nick…”

 

“Have you tried tracking his Pawphone?”

 

“I can do that?”

 

“Stupid rabbit. He gave you the code, didn’t he?”

 

“Well, yeah, but I have a Ramdroid, so that won’t work.”

 

“Just look up ‘find my pawphone’ online and put in the code there.”

 

“Oh! I didn’t know that was a thing!”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Just let me know where the fuck he is when you find him.” Finnick hung up and Judy quickly opened the web browser on her computer. Five minutes later and she had the answer.

 

_5524 Waterwash Lane, Rainforest District._ _The Cloven Hoof bar_.

Finnick replied almost instantly. _Fuckin merc bar. You go in there a cop, you come out a rug. Don’t die, rabbit._

 

_Merc bar?_

 

Instead of a response, he sent her a link to a website called urban dictionary. Her mouth formed a little round _O_ as she read through the ‘definitions’ of _merc_. She checked the movement tracker view and saw that the phone had been there for the past 18 hours, almost. A sick feeling settled into her stomach.

 

“Officer Hopps.”

 

Judy jumped and spun towards the opening of her cubicle, where Sergeant Taggert was standing with a serious expression. “Y-yes sir?”

 

“I hope you understand that taking personal phone calls while on your shift – especially ones as disruptive as the one earlier – do not keep you in high regard with the brass around here.”

 

“I understand that, sir. I didn’t realize that it would be… who it was. I assumed that it was either Detective Snarloff, one of the victims in the domestic abuse cases that I received, or Nick – I mean Officer Wilde.”

 

“Well I’m assuming that it certainly wasn’t Officer Wilde,” the tiger drawled. “Speaking of, where is your partner today, Hopps?”

 

“I… I don’t know, Sergeant,” Judy admitted, looking at the floor as her ears drooped. “He hasn’t been in contact with anyone that I know of since we parted last night after our shifts.”

 

“And so you decided to track his Pawphone?” Judy looked up to find that the sergeant’s gaze was on her computer screen. “Officer Hopps, I understand that you’re worried about your partner, but I expected you to have a little more professionalism than tracking his every move.”

 

“I… I…”

 

“Cut her some slack, sarge,” Fangmeyer cut in, coming to stand beside her fellow tiger. “With everything that’s been going on lately, I think she has a right to be worried about her partner. Lord knows I’d probably do the same if my husband suddenly disappeared off the map for a whole day without warning. And the same goes for Liam.” Anderson looked up as his name was called, obviously not paying attention to anything, before ducking back down when he realized that it wasn’t a conversation about him.

 

Taggert sighed but didn’t pursue it further. “So, where _is_ Wilde, Officer?”

 

“It says that he’s at a place called the Cloven Hoof, down in the Rainforest District.”

 

“Did he actually skip work to go drinking?”

 

“I don’t think so, because the app shows that he’s been there for almost 18 hours already… since about midnight last night. And the mammal who called said the place was a popular mercenary hangout.”

 

“You’re thinking a kidnapping?”

 

“I don’t know. Those are just the facts as I see them right now.”

 

Taggert hummed for a few moments, then said, “Okay then, you can go look for Officer Wilde at this bar, but I want you to go in civilian clothes and without your badge. Wolford, Delgato!” She called across the room. Instantly both of them were out of their seats and making their way over to Judy’s cubicle. “I want you two to accompany Officer Hopps to a bar called the Cloven Hoof and help her search for any evidence of Officer Wilde. You’ll both be going in plainclothes, and your badges will be tucked away. I’m giving you permission to each sign out a tranq. gun for the duration of this escort mission. Officer Hopps will explain on the way.”

 

“Yes sir,” they both said, then turned to Judy as Sergeant Taggert turned to go back to her office.


	8. Chapter 8

Judy peered out the window in the back of the car as Delgato parked along one of the hills leading down to Waterwash Lane. The street was sitting right at the bottom of the Rainforest District near the border with the Meadowlands. For once it wasn’t raining, which she was thankful of. While she didn’t mind the water, she always preferred to keep dry when she wasn’t wearing her waterproof uniform.

 

“Okay, now remember the plan,” Wolford said, turning around so he could glance between his partner and the bunny in the back seat of Delgato’s personal car. “Judy, you’re coming in _after_ we get in and situated. We need to figure out what kind of atmosphere it is in there, and if it’s safe for you to come in and search. Not because you’re a bunny,” he added hastily as Judy opened her mouth. “But if everyone in there is a predator, or if they’re heavily armed, you’re a target.”

 

“I know,” Judy let out with a sigh. “I need to be more careful because I’m a bunny. I know you’re not being specieist. It just bugs me that I can’t do more.”

 

“Well think about it this way,” Delgato commented, also turning around. “You’ve got two officers on the beat with you right now, which is probably more than Bogo would have assigned you without a warrant. Take it as it comes, because if he catches on to what we’re doing here, he _might_ just give us back the title of being the biggest pains in his hide.”

 

“I wouldn’t go as far as that,” Wolford replied. “If Nick has actually been kidnapped, we won’t be getting that title back anytime soon.” Judy clenched her jaw and her ears stiffened slightly. The other two officers didn’t seem to notice. They did drop the subject, however.

 

“Okay, so remember, give us a head start to the count of 200 tiger stripes, and then you can come after us.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I know all this!”

 

“Okay, okay.” The three of them got out of the car and Delgato locked it.

 

“By the way,” Wolford started as the two of them were walking away. “Why tiger stripes?”

 

“Just an expression my mom used to tell me when I was counting. You can count wolf pelts if you prefer.”

 

“Uhh, no thanks.”

 

Judy started her count, trying to keep a steady pace all throughout. It worked, barely. She gave herself an extra 50 seconds just in case, then started dashing down the street in the direction her fellow officers had gone. It was only just before the doors to the bar that she stopped to compose herself and catch her breath. She needed to look cool and confident.

 

She opened the door and walked in, trying not to be self-conscious in her yoga pants, loose crop top that was hanging off of one shoulder and a snapback placed on her head that was covering a decent portion of her face, making it harder to recognize her. She was borrowing he hat from Wolford, who would wear it with his casual clothes sometimes, but was completely not her style. She figured it was better than having someone recognize her and blow this out of the water before she’d even have a chance to look for her boyfriend, though.

 

Apparently she blended in well, because the only person who turned to look at her was the bartender. “What’ll it be, missy?”

 

She needed to play the part now, not just look it. “A shot of carrot whiskey and a pint of beer.” She settled into a stool at the bar between a fat sheep and a muscled female cape buffalo with scars all across her arms and face. The bartender gave her the shot first and she downed it without hesitation while the older zebra was pouring her a beer. She knew Delgato and Wolford were sitting at a table across the bar from her, facing each other with their sides to the wall. They’d glance over at her every so often.

 

The bar was only half-full, mostly populated by different breeds of goats and sheep, but with a few other types of ungulates such as the buffalo. Wolford and Delgato were the only predators in the room.

 

The bartender placed the pint down in front of Judy. “And who’s tab will I be putting these on?” he asked in a disgruntled tone.

 

“The Big tab.”

 

The zebra snorted. “’The big tab’? What the hell do you think this is, someone in the sky will just come in and _magically_ pay for everyone’s drinks?”

 

Judy shot the old zebra a glare from under the brim of her snapback. “Are you trying to insult me?”

 

“Look, missy, I don’t know what kind of fantasy world you’re living in, but if you expect us to just give you free drinks, then you’re out of your mind. Of course, if you were expecting to pay by… other means… then you should just say so right at the beginning.”

 

Judy felt a flush of embarrassment as the old zebra looked her up and down hungrily. She practically growled as she replied. “The _Big family’s_ tab, you idiot. You know, the most prolific crime boss in Tundratown? Or do I need to call up Daddy and have him send some of his men down here to _help_ you remember?” She pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for Fru Fru. She’d changed the arctic shrew’s contact name in her phone to _Daddy Big_ with a heart and winky face emojis, just in case she got into a situation like this. She let the phone go flat enough that she was sure the old zebra could read the contact name and then put on an affected look as she watched him struggle.

 

She almost felt dirty using the word _daddy_ like that, but she sucked it up for the sake of finding Nick. If she couldn’t even have a single _drink_ without getting ridiculed and almost attacked, then she sure as heck wasn’t getting anywhere near finding her boyfriend.

 

Finally the zebra let out a sigh and gave her a placating smile. “Alright, there, Miss. No need to call up the big boss. I’m just an old coot, and my hearing isn’t what it used to be. I’ll put you in the Big family tab right away!”

 

“Damn right you will.” Judy didn’t know where this sudden gangster vibe was coming from, but she decided that it was definitely what she needed in this kind of place.

 

“Hey there, cutie,” the fat sheep turned toward her drunkenly. He was wearing an eye patch over his right eye, and his stained t-shirt was printed with the bar’s logo, a ram skull with a three-tined crown hovering over it. He looked familiar, but Judy couldn’t tell from where. “What brings a cute little thing like you down to a place like this?”

 

“First, don’t call me ‘cute’, fleece-for-brains. Second, why would I tell you? You’re already drunk, so it’s not like you could tell me anything.”

 

“So what are you here for?” The buffalo turned towards her, placing one hoof next to Judy’s beer. “Because if it’s work for Mr. Big, you’ll have your choice of patrons here.”

 

Judy put on another affected smirk and took a sip of her beer. “Daddy wants to find a fox. A _specific_ fox. Supposedly he’s been here for the past few days.”

 

“And which _specific_ fox are you referring to?”

 

“Nicholas Wilde, that fox who went and joined up with the police. Daddy’s got some… business… with him.”

 

“Therefore the fox should be found alive?”

 

“And unharmed,” Judy clarified.

 

“That’ll cost him extra,” the buffalo said, taking a swig from her own drink.

 

Judy laughed. “Oh, he’s not paying anyone yet. He just wants me to poke my nose around and see if I can’t find any scent of his _foxy_ friend.”

 

The buffalo turned away, looking irritated for having wasted her time. The fat ram, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to help the little bunny. “Ooh, ooh, I _knew_ he was someone important when they dragged him in here!”

 

“When who dragged whom in here?”

 

“The Brotherhood! They dragged your little buddy the fox into the back room and started doing their thing to him back there!”

 

“Are they still here?”

 

“Nah, it only takes a few hours for them to do their thing. It’s wicked!”

 

“Oh really? Wanna show me, then?” She leaned in closer to the ram, trying not to cringe at the smell of alcohol that clung to his wool, and spoke in a breathy voice that was just above a whisper.

 

“I… I don’t know if I should…”

 

“Come on, who’s gonna know? It’ll be just you and me.” She shrugged her shoulder slightly, allowing the crop top to settle lower on her torso. The ram’s eye went directly to the newly exposed piece of fur, then quickly darted back up to meet hers.

 

“Heh… heh heh… sure, come with me, darlin’.” Judy slipped off the barstool and followed the stumbling ram over to a door marked ‘Employees Only.’ Through the doorway, down a hallway to a custodial supply room. A pair of rams spun towards the door as the sheep beside her opened it, and between them…

 

“Nick!”

 

His orange fur was clumped and matted, and pieces were missing here and there. It looked like he’d come out on the losing end of a brawl with a bobcat. He was strapped down onto a gurney, with a strange metal helmet with wires sticking out of it tied to his head. His eyes were open, but they didn’t seem to recognize anything.

 

The two rams suddenly charged at the pair. Judy reflexively dodged out of the way, and one of the rams pounded into the sheep that had guided her hear, while the other crashed head-first into the door. Surprisingly, it held.

 

Unfortunately, it was locked just a moment later by that same ram, who had recovered. Now she was trapped.

 

She quickly dashed around behind the gurney to a metal machine that was tucked away into the corner, looking like one of the old computers that were used to send the first mammals into space. She ducked behind it and pulled out her phone.

 

 _S.O.S.,_ she typed in a message to Delgato, then added _janitor’s closet_ and hit Send.

 

Judy just had time to register that her service in this place was horrible before something big and heavy was slammed down onto her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter because I'm still deciding between two outcomes... either way, things are starting to heat up!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rock bottom suddenly seems a lot farther away...

The first thing Judy was aware of was the rattling and shaking that she could only identify as being produced by the movement of a car along a bumpy road. It was strangely familiar, like when she and her siblings had ridden in the back of her father’s pickup truck around the farm.

 

Was she… at home? Back in Bunnyburrow? But she had just been there a week ago!

 

The floor underneath her suddenly heaved upwards, causing her head to bounce. She couldn’t contain a cry of pain from the feeling of her head splitting in two as it came into contact with the floor again. She tried to move her paws up to cradle her aching skull, but they could only move a few inches before cold metal stopped them again.

 

Judy suddenly felt another piece of cold metal flick up and press against the underside of her chin. This one she definitely recognized: the barrel of a gun. She swallowed involuntarily, trying not to breathe too deeply to avoid having it press against her any more than it was.

 

She tried moving backward slightly but the gun just followed her. “Stupid rabbit,” she heard a voice murmur, and she thought it matched the voice of the female buffalo in the bar.

 

Judy cracked open her eyes just enough to take in her surroundings and found herself facing down the buffalo, who was holding a rifle. Beside her was the drunken sheep from the bar. He was in handcuffs, though not chained to the floor. He was muttering quietly to himself, every so often casting upset glances at Judy or panicked ones at the buffalo. The latter astutely ignored him.

 

Judy shut her eyes tight and concentrated on listening, trying to get her senses to focus again. Her sense of smell was being blocked by the fumes of the alcohol emanating from across the floor of the vehicle, which had looked to be some kind of delivery van. Her hearing, however, was as acute as ever, and she quickly picked up three other breathing patterns in the van besides the two that were coming from the ram and buffalo.

 

One breathing pattern sounded very familiar to her… and when he muttered out, “Ju…dy…” she instantly recognized who it was.

 

_NICK!_ She wanted to scream out his name, wanted to run at him and jump on him and hug him and squeeze him and press herself into his fur and—

 

But she couldn't do any of that, because she was in chains. She couldn’t even say anything, because there was a gun pressed to her muzzle.

 

Based on the sounds that Nick was making, he was just unconscious. She was thankful that he wasn’t injured, like she obviously was, of which her head reminded her when it dropped against the floor once more as they went over a particularly large bump in the road. She thanked her lucky stars that he seemed unhurt.

 

“Hey,” the buffalo called, and Judy heard the _shh_ of wool on synthetic fabric as the sheep in the front of the van turned his head slightly against the head rest to listen. “How much longer are we gonna be? Because the rabbit’s waking up, I think the fox will be in a minute, and this asshole beside me looks like he could start puking at any minute. And I’m not cleaning that up, I don’t care how much you pay me!”

 

“We’ll be arriving shortly,” the ram said in a strangely robotic voice. “Make sure that they stay where they are once we begin to unload them into the facility.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know what to do,” the buffalo replied. She then grumbled under her breath, “’Shortly.’ Same damn thing he said 20 minutes ago.”

 

It turned out that the ram had been serious this time around, because just at that moment the vehicle sloped downwards and the bumping stopped. A few minutes later they leveled out and then finally the vehicle came to a stop. The doors in the front opened and closed.

 

After a few moments of no sound, the back doors were thrown open and heavy hoof falls reverberated through the metal paneling of the van bed. The drunken ram was thrown out first, judging by his oddly-familiar bleat and _whoosh_ of air leaving his body as he was caught again.

 

Judy felt the buffalo’s rifle press further into the flesh under her chin, and then her cuffs were being removed. Barely a heartbeat later, however, another set clicked into place and her wrists were stuck together. She opened her eyes a crack to see what was going on, then a pair of hoofs grabbed her on either side and lifted her onto her feet. The gun was quickly moved so that it pointed at the back of her head and the sheep dragged her out of the van into what looked to be just another underground parking garage.

 

Her vision was suddenly cut off, however, as a black-cloth bag was shoved down over her head. She struggled, trying to get her arms up to get it off, but received a blow to the back of the head from what she assumed was the butt of the rifle. She instantly went limp, and she lost consciousness.

 

When she woke up again, she was lying on a stiff cot on the floor of a concrete room. She had a little bit of leeway to move her arms and legs, but the shackles that were attached to her body didn’t give her much – maybe three feet in any direction.

 

She tried to move her head but was met with excruciating pain that almost made her black out. She struggled through it, though, and occupied herself with trying to minimize the pain.

**

She tried to keep track of the passing time, but it proved impossible. There were no windows in the room, and the only light source that she could see was a naked incandescent light bulb sticking out of the ceiling. It would flicker occasionally, but it never went out.

 

Judy, confined to the mattress by both the chains and the insurmountable migraine that she experienced every time she did so much as allow her head to move, spent a lot of time in contemplation of her life, the cases she’d been working on, the trouble she’d get in from Bogo for going into a dangerous situation alone and unarmed, for not waiting for backup, and for the incredible amount of paperwork that he was likely having to file because of their disappearance. Then, after it turned to exactly how badly he’d punish her and Nick and she realized how depressing her train of thoughts was, she returned to thinking about her friends, her family, and then finally: Nick.

 

_That damn fox,_ she thought to herself. _Why did he have to go and get kidnapped in the first place? Why couldn’t he just_ stay out of trouble _for once?!_

 

The very tiny, vindictive part of her brain pushed forward the image of Nick strapped to that table with the metal contraption on his head. _That’s what he gets for not staying the night…_ the voice whispered. Judy tried her hardest to ignore the voice and stop thinking about the mental image, but with little success. And the harder she tried, the more her head pulsed with pain.

 

Finally she gave in to the pain in her head and let herself fall back into unconscious.

**

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her head wasn’t hurting nearly as much as when she had passed out. That was a good sign. The second thing she noticed was that all her senses were dulled. That was a little worrisome, especially because it could potentially be a sign of permanent brain damage. Judy tried not to think about that as she continued to wake up.

 

The third thing she noticed was that her mind was all foggy – and that was the most troubling part so far, because she wasn’t supposed to have a foggy mind, she was supposed to be clear-headed, and the fact that this was only the _fourth_ thing she noticed… _wait, wasn’t it the third?_ And she was still having trouble remembering the first two… or three, or however many there were.

 

The… whatever number thing she noticed next, was the panic that was starting to rise in her. It was bubbling up like the boiling water in a kettle left on the stove too long, and she could feel the pressure building up in herself. Any moment now, the steam would be pouring out through her ears, and her body would burn, becoming nothing more than a broken and empty vessel for all her hopes and dreams and her family would be so upset and shake their heads and be proven right that a bunny could never make it as a cop and she’d become a cautionary tale to warn others not to follow their dreams or their goals, and her desk would sit empty and someone would have to go and clean out her apartment and she was going to die here and Nick wasn’t going to be able to be at her funeral and no one would ever let them be buried together like mates should be and they weren’t even mates yet because they’d never had sex and she’d been so afraid about having sex with him because he was a _fox_ and no matter how hard she tried she would never be able to get rid of that prejudice and fear against foxes because of what happened with Gideon when they were kids and because her father had thought to buy her a fox Taser to go to the city and had made an entire _fox protection kit_ to keep her safe and now he’d be heartbroken that his oldest daughter whom he’d tried so hard to protect would be dead because of a stupid dream that he hadn’t been able to stop her from pursuing and – and – and – and—

 

Judy couldn’t tell how long the tears had been falling for when the first migraine hit, she couldn't tell how long the pain lasted, and she couldn’t remember any of the previous deluge of panicked thoughts that had pressed through her mind, but then the second wave started and she found herself barely able to breath, much less try to think coherently.

 

And then the fourth-eighth-third-twelfth-seventh-nineteenth wave hit and she was trapped again and going insane and dying and begging for death and her lungs were burning and her throat was raw and her head was pounding and her entire body ached and she screamed but there was no one to hear her and she pounded her fists on the cot that felt only slightly more comfortable than the concrete and she pounded her legs but couldn’t get them under her to do anything and then all of a sudden she wasn’t in control of her limbs anymore and she started flailing around and her head was ripping itself apart and—

**

She woke up to find that she was being completely restrained. Her head felt tight but in much less pain. She didn’t even try to move it because she could feel an external pressure holding it in place. The same went for her arms, legs, chest and waist.

 

Judy tried to take careful stock of her surroundings. Thankfully her mind was a lot clearer and her senses weren’t as dull as they had been. Unfortunately, she also seemed to be extremely groggy.

 

Off to her left, she could hear the faintly wheezing breath of what she assumed to be some kind of canine, based on the length of the breath and the pitch of the whistle. That had been one of the skills that she was most highly praised on in the Academy – her ability to differentiate different kinds of mammals based purely on breathing patterns.

 

She cracked her eyes open and instantly shut them again against the bright light that pierced her pupils. She felt like she had a _really_ bad hangover, having the sensitivity to light that she did right at that moment.

 

An involuntary gasp of pain had escaped her as she shut her eyes tightly again, and the breathing pattern changed slightly, becoming faster and more excited. Then she heard the creak of an old wooden chair and the soft footfalls of a small mammal with a cane.

 

_Thuh-thuh-THUMP thuh-thuh-THUMP._

 

A shadow fell over Judy’s face and she carefully cracked her eyes open again, ready to shut them at a moment’s notice if the light proved to be too painful – or the thing shading her proved too monstrous.

 

Her initial guess of a canine was right, but the real thing was a far cry from the image she had pulled up in her mind. And it almost scared her half to death.

 

The creature was about the size of Nick, and Judy almost thought that was who it was for a moment until the creature shifted under the umbrella it was holding to block the light and she realized that what she had originally taken to be russet was in fact black-and-tawny, and that the eyes were a cold black gleam as opposed to Nick’s warm green irises. The jackal was looking down at her appraisingly, his expression an exact copy of the jackals that she continually saw in her nightmares.

 

Insane.

 

Savage.

 

Hunter.

 

Hungry.

 

Judy whimpered slightly as she caught the jackal’s eye.

 

It made a clucking sound and a reedy male voice followed. “Now, now, no need to be afraid my dear. I may love to devour the flesh of rabbits, but my partners want to keep you alive, so I can’t eat you just yet.”

 

The rabbit didn’t respond.

 

“I suppose it’s only fair to that you’re not responding to me; after your last encounter with my kind, I imagine that you’re likely near to soiling yourself, am I right?” The jackal chuckled. “You really have nothing to fear, my dear. As I said, my partners want to keep you wholesome… for now.”

 

Judy’s tongue felt thick but she couldn’t just let his words go unchallenged, so she forced out one garbled word: “P-partners?”

 

“Oh, you can talk! Splendid! I had thought the seizures might have incapacitated you vocally. Yes, my partners. The Brotherhood of the Cloven Hoof. A remarkable group of people; then again, they would have to be pretty remarkable in order to draw away my interest from my own affairs in the Great Plains. I will admit, I was quite intrigued by their proposal to expand and enhance the market for my new drug. Perhaps you’ll recognize the name? _Dithemontryptaline._ Better known as Scorpion.”

 

Judy’s eyes widened, and the jackal let out a little growl of amusement.

 

“You seem surprised my dear. Did your partner the fox not tell you that it was a jackal matching my description that met with Mr. Blackfur to discuss the rumbling? Yes, I’m the one who had the foresight to use this to my advantage, and the Brotherhood agreed with me in this matter. And so I began to develop the special serum for this new strain of the drug, which we would use during the rumbling. It was quite ingenious, really, if I do say so myself.”

 

“What… what h-ha…happened… to…” Judy cursed herself for not being able to speak properly.

 

“I’m going to take a stab at what you’re trying to say, here. ‘What happened to me?’ you ask? You had a series of seizures caused in part because of your concussion, and in part because of the drugs that we’d given you to help you control the pain. Unfortunately, it seems as if you had a semi-severe allergic reaction to those particular sedatives which caused your seizures, as well as the panic attacks you experienced just prior to your epileptic bouts.”

 

Judy nodded uncertainly, thankful for the information but not knowing what to do with it. Then she began to realize that the old jackal had tried to _guess_ what she was referring to, and so even though he had guessed correctly, she could likely milk him for more information.

 

The other mammal was waiting for her response. “Not… wh-what… I wa-as… asking…”

 

The jackal furrowed his brow in confusion. “I see. Then perhaps you were referring to your partner, the ever-elusive Mr. Wilde?”

 

Judy nodded slightly, her eyes widening a fraction at the mention of her partner. She had to fight against her restraints to even move her head that much, but it was worth it to not have to use her parched and swollen throat.

 

“Mr. Wilde is currently being studied. He has so far resisted our brainwashing attempts – the technique being designed specifically for herd animals notwithstanding – and the effects of the modified Scorpion serum, to an extent. Especially when it involves you. As of yet, the only pain he has come to has been self-inflicted because he refused to remain calm and was shocked by his collar. It is unfortunate that we are not able to remove it, but seeing as he is wearing one of the specialized police collars, only a police officer’s key will be able to remove it.” The jackal shrugged. “It’s such a pity. If Mr. Wilde had been able to stomach more and not joined in with the police, I might have made him my contact instead of his cousin Richard.”

 

Judy looked at him in horror, and couldn’t come up with any reply that she felt could ever be an accurate reaction to the information she had just received.

 

The old jackal stood over her with a gloating sneer on his face, and his eyes were so menacing in that moment that Judy wished that they would give her another dose of whatever sedative they could that wouldn’t cause an allergic reaction just to have an excuse to get away from this evil creature.

 

Apparently someone, somewhere was listening, because a sudden chime emanated from the old jackal’s pocket. He pulled out a Pawphone and briefly checked the text.

 

“Well it seems as if that is my cue to depart. I have _big_ plans to help develop for the future of Zootopia. As a parting gift, however…” The other mammal leaned down and took one of Judy’s ears in between his teeth.

 

He bit down. Hard.

 

Judy whimpered in pain, tears pouring down her cheeks as the flesh of her ear hurt more and more and more… And then she must have blacked out for a moment, because the next thing she knew, the jackal in front of her was chewing tenderly on a piece of bloody flesh… surrounded by the silvery-black fur that Judy had at the tips of her ears.

 

He sucked the rest of the flesh into his mouth and really chewed for a few moments, making sounds of delight, before swallowing. “Thank you for the morsel, darling. I’ll be sure to come back for more, later. Until then, ta ta!”

 

The jackal moved his umbrella and suddenly Judy found herself staring straight into the naked fluorescent light bulb above her head. The blinding light was extremely painful and with every other ache and pain that her body was recuperating from, she passed out again, unable to cope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so late in coming... this was a hard chapter to write. Poor Judy...


	10. Chapter 10

Judy didn’t know how long she was there for. It was hard to keep track of time. Heck, it was hard to even remember what was happening around her. There was always a flurry of activity. She vaguely remembered a pair of ewes tending to her wounds, one or two goat doctors prescribing antibiotics and rabies shots and other stuff that she couldn’t comprehend at the time. They poked an IV drip into her arm. There was some kind of tube in her stomach to feed her and give her water. At one point they poked some tubes up her nose.

 

She couldn’t comprehend any of it.

 

She only found out later that they’d kept her drugged for the entire time.

 

Finally, one day she woke up and she slowly gained consciousness. Something was different, however. Instead of stopping at a point just before she could get any idea of her surroundings, it continued until well past the point where she was cognizant enough to realize that she wasn’t being drugged anymore.

 

And that her restraints were off.

 

Every section of her body wasn’t being restrained. The chains were back, but at least she could move a little more.

 

There were no more tubes coming in or out of her.

 

She was famished.

 

She was parched.

 

This was not the same room that she had been in the last time.

 

Her ear seemed to have mostly healed. That was worrisome.

 

She was naked.

 

Judy’s first instinct was to cover up. She was naked, and she had no idea where she was. She looked around for cameras and saw there was one in each corner of the room she was in. She shivered, partly from the cold and partly from the fact that she knew she was being filmed while chained up and naked.

 

As she was moving her paws to cover her crotch, her right paw brushed against the fur on her right hip. A pang of dread shot through her as she realized what was there.

 

She mustered up what energy she could and pulled herself into a sitting position, and then leaned over to look at her hip. She swallowed nervously and slowly settled her body back down on the bed, feeling slightly ill.

 

On her left hip was a cattle brand. A ram’s skull with a three-pointed crown. Cattle brands had been outlawed hundreds of years ago, when the prey-trade was abolished. They were deemed far too cruel and inhumane to use, especially for marking sentient beings.

 

Some people still _did_ use them, mainly in countries on the other side of the world. Of course, the occasional report of branding still showed up in Zootopia – mainly being used by cults to mark their members.

 

This wasn’t a cult brand, though – she would’ve had to do some kind of initiation ritual for that, and she doubted that they could’ve convinced her to do anything like that, even if she was on drugs. Cults just weren’t her kind of thing. Which meant that this was a chattel marking!

 

Judy focused on her breathing, trying to keep the nausea down. It was just starting to work when a buzzer went off and a door swung open of to Judy’s right. She turned her head and came face to face with a very familiar sheep.

 

“You!” she groaned, her throat so raw she could barely speak.

 

“Yeah, me,” the ram shrugged. “What, you think the ZPD can keep me locked up for long? The Brotherhood loves to keep me around; after that Night Howler incident especially they have plenty to keep me employed.”

 

Doug Ramses moved into the room with his regular henchmen behind. Jesse with the eye patch, who had been at the Cloven Hoof bar with her and had led her to Nick, and Woolter, the ram she’d kicked out of the train window to switch the tracks when she and Nick had the Night Howler evidence.

 

“Were you the hitmammal that was sent after Nick and I?”

 

“Don’t be stupid, rabbit. I was in prison until last week when the Brotherhood busted us out. It was Woolter that was going after you too; if it had been me, you’d already be dead. Still, you showed up here pretty well of your own accord, so we didn’t have to go tracking for you in Bunnyburrow which saved us some time and resources, so I guess you have our thanks for that.”

 

Doug clopped over to where she was still lying down and before she had time to react, slapped a fabric patch onto her naked shoulder. Judy instantly felt the area go numb, and it was spreading quickly. In the meantime, Doug busied himself with her cuffs.

 

“Wh-what… what did you…?”

 

“Just a minor nerve dope; it’s to keep you immobile while we adjust these so that you can come with us.”

 

“Aren’t you the special one,” Woolter said in his high, raspy voice that sounded like he’d been drowned before and the water had never quite left his lungs. “The Father wants to see you! You’ll be getting a private audience with the Father and the Uncles!”

 

“Ah, shut it you dolt. Even if she’s never getting out of here, we can’t go giving her _all_ our secrets. If they want her to know, they’ll tell her themselves.”

 

The ram set to grumbling while Jesse snorted with laughter.

 

Doug finally finished with Judy’s chains shackles and they fell away from her body. They were quickly replaced by a pair of handcuffs that Doug cinched tight around her wrists.

 

“Okay, she’s good to go. Grab her and let’s get out of here. Keeping them waiting is never a good idea.”

 

Woolter and Jesse moved in quickly and grabbed Judy by her biceps, dragging her off the bed and out into the hallway. She could barely keep herself from groaning in pain at every step they took, but refused to show weakness in front of these rams.

 

They passed a number of other sheep and goats throughout the hallways. All of them stared with their horizontal pupils and seemed to judge her silently. Judy wished she was able to cover herself up, but the nerve dope was still paralyzing her.

 

Through the windows she could see the fields of the meadowlands in the distance. They must be somewhere extremely high to dwarf the buildings to almost nothing. Then they got into an elevator and went even higher, right to the top floor it seemed.

 

When they stepped out, still dragging Judy between them, she realized exactly how high they were: clouds were drifting by underneath them. In the distance she could see an airplane leveling off above the Zootopia International Airport. A sudden strong breeze ruffled her fur, and she could hear a few curses from some of the group that were at the other end, clutching the arms of their chairs to keep from being blown off their dais between the gaps in the branches that formed the walls.

 

Woolter and Jesse brought her up to the front of the dais and dropped her onto a coarse fur rug before backing away. Doug pulled her up into a kneeling position and let her sit there as pulled off the nerve-dope patch and replaced it with another one. Almost instantly, Judy started to get feeling again in her limbs.

 

She raised her head and looked up at the mammals seated on the dais in front of her. They were pretty well all sheep, with a few goats here and there. And right in the center, seated on the arm of the biggest chair…

 

“Bellwether!”

 

“Hello there, Judy. Long time, no see. How did you like your accommodations? They were probably better than _mine!_ ”

 

“The Zootopia City Correctional facility isn’t that bad!”

 

“Oh, you’re right. But I was sent to the maximum-security section, which is _a lot worse._ So I think it’s safe to say that we’re even now.”

 

“So the Brotherhood busted you out too, huh?”

 

“Of course. They wouldn’t leave behind the daughter of their leader, after all.”

 

A rumble from the ram whose armrest she was sitting on caused Bellwether to stiffen. “Enough, child.”

 

“Y-yes, daddy.” She gave Judy a glare.

 

The ram leaned forward. He had the largest set of sheep’s horns that Judy had ever seen, and a wiry grey fleece that had been grown out around the chin in a long, triangular beard. Even under the thick fleece, the ram looked heavily muscled. “So,” he said simply. “You’re Officer Judy Hopps.”

 

“And you are?”

 

“Apparently your throat has recovered somewhat, seeing as you are able to speak so freely once again.”

 

“Just answer the question.”

 

The ram gave a bleating laugh. “Such demands from my property. Perhaps, once I’m done speaking with you, I should cut out your tongue. I hear that rabbit tongues are quite lucky.”

 

“They are quite a lucrative trade, to be sure,” one of the dozen others on the dais replied, coughing. “However, it is the feet of the rabbit that are lucky, not their tongues. Those are simply delicious.”

 

“I’m not your property,” Judy growled.

 

The ram leered down at her. “Oh dear, but I’m afraid that you _are_ my property. That’s what that brand on your hip means.”

 

“You’ll be sorry once the ZPD gets here and breaks me out of this place.”

 

Judy’s words were almost drowned out by the chuckles from the other animals up on the dais. The lead ram, however, seemed to have heard her. “First demands, now threats? You stupid rabbit, you are playing a dangerous game. Funny enough, the bastard who bit your ear off did the same thing. And now you’re sitting on him.”

 

Judy’s head snapped down, and her paws flew to her mouth as she looked down and realized what had happened.

  
“You… you skinned him!” Head, tail and all, the jackal that had bitten the tip of her ear off was now splayed out underneath her as a fur rug. She expected herself to feel sick, but… nothing. It was almost as if she had become too jaded already to really have any sympathy or empathy left for the likes of the criminal mammal splayed out underneath her. Now _that_ was a thought that made her shudder.

 

“Aww, what’s the matter, Judy?” Bellwether asked in her high, whiny voice. “Are you gonna be sick? Just try and avoid getting any on yourself – or Father’s new rug. After all, we just had it put in yesterday, and it would be such a shame to ruin it.”

 

“So are you responsible for those disappearances too? And the lambs that are being trafficked from the Tundratown docks?”

 

“Disappearances? Absolutely not. All mammals that come to us come to us with the full consent of themselves or their masters. Including those lambs. All we have ever done for the mammals of Zootopia, we have done for their benefit and with their consent.”

 

“And what about the shock collars? Do you really think that any of the predators _gave their consent_ to be collared like criminals?”

 

There was some angry murmuring at her words, but the lead ram just shrugged. “Predators don’t deserve to be called mammal. We much prefer the term _chattel_. And as chattel have no rights but for those given them by their masters…”

 

“And you think that you guys are their masters?” Judy let out a harsh laugh that made her throat sting again. “You’re insane. And anyone who agrees with you are specieist and completely disgusting.”

 

“Am I insane? I don’t think so. After all, if prey were not meant to be dominant, then why did your partner here acquiesce to our demands so easily?” He gestured to the back wall of the open-air atrium and as she glanced over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of russet fur.

 

_Nick._

 

His head was down. There was a sheep on either side of him, but he was walking under his own power. She couldn’t see his face, but his tail was dragging along the ground behind him. It had clumps of fur missing, and the parts that weren’t missing were matted and looked like they hadn’t been trimmed in weeks.

 

_Nick!_

 

As he got closer, she could see the occasional twitch in his paws. They had always been so steady and deft, but now it looked like he was barely able to control the movements of his fingers.

 

_NICK!_

 

He stumbled on the uneven ground, jostling his shoulders and causing his collar to shift. Judy was horrified to see what looked like burnt fur and, in some places, blackened skin. The sheep quickly righted him and propelled him forward again.

 

“ _Nick!_ ” she shouted finally, causing him to look up when he was just a few feet away from her.

 

“Ju-Judy?” He rasped out, his voice hoarse. It sounded like he was having a hard time believing it was actually her.

 

“Oh, Nick, what happened to you?” His muzzle was covered in scars. One of his eyes was swollen shut; the sclera of the other was blood red. He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out.

 

There was a soft sound behind her, and then all of a sudden the ram was behind her with his hoof on her shoulder. Judy stiffened at his touch.

 

“Now, now, no need to get all sentimental on us, my dear,” the ram sneered in a shockingly similar way as the jackal. “Or not yet, at least. You’ll have plenty of time to mourn your friend… once you wake up covered in his blood.”

 

“Wh-what?” Judy tried to get away from the ram, but the hoof closed down on her shoulder suddenly, causing her to gasp in pain. Nick growled at her cry, but before he could do anything, he was being restrained as well. Judy watched as he tried to fight off the sheep on either side of him, but the only thing that happened was a shock from his collar. She was forced to watch in horror as the lights went from green to yellow, and finally to red.

 

Nick collapsed between them.

 

Judy screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed until she felt a hoof slam into her throat. Hard.

 

Then she fell silent.

 

“I hope you’ll be a little more quiet when you’re tearing into his flesh,” the ram grumbled. Then, “Ramses! Is the Night Howler serum ready?”

 

“Yes, Father,” the ram replied, hurrying up to them with a vial of indigo liquid. The Father grabbed Judy under the chin and pried her jaws open, locking them in place with his hooves. “Down the gullet, rabbit.”

 

Just as he was about to uncork the vial, there came a soft _whoosh_ of air, and suddenly Doug was falling forward as his eyes rolled back into his head. He hit the ground with a soft _thud_.

 

Suddenly the air was full of _whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh._ All around her, the sheep and goats started to topple like bowling pins, all slumping over in their chairs or falling to the ground where they stood. After a moment, the hoof fell away from Judy’s jaw and she moved herself out of the way just in time to avoid being pinned down by the weight of the ram.

 

All around them was the sounds of combat: several people were shouting, “ZPD! Don’t move!” or “ABI! You’re all under arrest!” or “We need transport. Now. And send in a full squadron of EMTs. It looks like we’re going to need it.” Judy wasn’t sure, but she thought that last one sounded an awful lot like Chief Bogo.

 

Of course, she didn’t care about any of that. The only thing she cared about was Nick. She crawled over to his side, desperately trying to get him to wake up, to move, to do _anything_ on his own. She pressed her good ear to his chest, trying to find a heartbeat.

 

It was there – barely. It would skip beats more often than actually beat. His breathing was labored and shallow and she wasn’t sure how long it could last. Judy started screaming again, trying to get someone’s attention so they could take over for her as she started a weak version of CPR, trying to get his heart back into a normal rhythm. All that came out, however, was garbled rasps that made no sense even to her.

 

She kept pumping away at his chest, growing weaker by the moment, and every few seconds she would check to see if his heart was beating normally. A distant part of her mind reminded her that it would do him no good to have her do what she was doing, but she couldn’t bring herself to comprehend the thought.

 

After what could have been an eternity or could have been only a heartbeat – one of hers, she thought, because his had stopped completely – she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She screamed again and tried to punch the mammal that she was sure was a sheep, or a goat, or some other part of the group that had taken her fox’s life, but her tiny fist was caught in the mammal’s other hoof.

 

“Hopps. Hopps, look at me.” Judy looked up, unable to disobey the soft, deep voice. She was met with the eyes of a cape buffalo. A very familiar pair of eyes.

 

“Ch-chief…”

 

“Hopps, the EMTs are here and they’re going to look after Officer Wilde. But in order for them to do that, we need you to move out of the way. Let them do their job, and come over with me so we can get you examined as well – and dressed.”

 

Judy nodded uncertainly, still having trouble comprehending normal speech, but allowed herself to be led away from Nick as the paramedics surrounded him, one of them carrying a defibrillator. She had to suppress a giggle as she watched them quickly shave away to large portions of his chest fur. It was immensely funny to her for some reason.

 

The last thing she saw before she fainted was Nick jolting into a sitting position, his arms flailing wildly. The last thing she heard was his voice rasping her name.

**

_“In light of recent events, we have determined that continuing to collar predators is, quite frankly, a horrible idea. Allowing this action by the City Council to continue for as long as it has has been a gross oversight of justice. As of today, all predators who are collared will have their collars removed. All microchip implants will be removed. The Zootopia General Hospital will be performing the removal surgeries beginning immediately, as will all other hospitals in all city districts.”_

_The image on the screen changed to show a snow leopard and a moose sitting behind a desk. The moose spoke up first. “This is the most recent statement released regarding the Supreme Court ruling on shock collars. City officials now have an order to completely repeal the legislation within the next week.”_

_“In related news,” the snow leopard continued, “the Zootopia Police Department have scheduled a press conference for later today to discuss the discovery of the Sheep Conspiracy, which until recently has widely been regarded with skepticism. In a statement released yesterday, the ZPD claims it was thanks to the combined efforts of Detective John Snarloff and Officers Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde, the ZPD’s first rabbit and fox officers, respectively.”_

 

“You can shut it off, Nick,” Judy said, and the fox complied, turning off the TV and leaning his head back against hers.

 

Apparently, Snarloff had gone undercover as a sheep and snuck into the meeting. He fired the first tranq. dart that took down Doug. The ZPD and ABI arrived just a moment later and had knocked out the entirety of the meeting with their own tranq darts. Judy and Nick had been taken to the hospital, and after their physical injuries had been taken care of, they were checked into the mental ward to get full psych evaluations done, as well as to help them with any trauma that they may have experienced during their extended stay with the Brotherhood.

 

“So what are you thinking, Officer?” Nick questioned playfully. “You have two very important decisions to make at present.”

 

“Yes,” Judy tilted her head up and kissed Nick on the lips, “and yes. I will move in with you in that condo that you picked out, and I will take the detective exam with you. After all, I can’t just let my partner disappear on me, now can I?”

 

Nick hummed happily in response and snuggled in closer in their shared bed in the mental ward, finally feeling at peace knowing he wouldn’t have to stop spending time with the love of his life anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Part 4: Changing the World Epilogue, will be coming out shortly! (And for all of you who were looking for that feel-good ending - if this wasn't a good enough one, then the Epilogue will definitely give it to you). 
> 
> Thank you everyone for reading and commenting! I loved hearing from you guys and I'm absolutely ecstatic that you cared this much to stick with the story through it all! (even though I know I hurt your hearts). 
> 
> :D

**Author's Note:**

> As life gets busier, I'll get less chance to write, but I'll still try to get chapters out every other day or so.


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